Nowhere To Run
by TheKeybladeForger
Summary: They say the one thing you can't outrun is yourself, and this was even truer for Danny. After his life spirals out of control again because of a single moment of carelessness which unfortunately brings back the memories he tried to bury about his evil self, he realizes there is only one person that can help him keep those fears at bay. Now, if only that person wasn't Vlad Masters.
1. One Moment Of Carelessness

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note 03/08/2018:** Before you ask, yes I know the whole _'Danny's parents reject him and he either runs to Vlad or is saved by him'_ has been done to death _(pun intended)_ but I felt like trying my hand at it too to take a short break from OC stuff. I have a lot of Danny Phantom stories planned for the future, some AU's, at least one crossover, and some other original works aside from my main series revolving around "The Grimoire." This will be a first person story that switches between Danny and Vlad, but above all else, please know that this is NOT a pompous pep story, I don't approve of their pairing because of the age difference, that's too creepy for me. Sorry if that offends anyone but that's where I stand on this one issue. But I digress, lets move on to the story shall we? And if this beta chapter does well I may write more.

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Prologue: One Moment Of Carelessness

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Danny's POV

Well...that could have gone any number of ways, but I never expected it to end this way. My life might have been crazy enough while juggling household chores, classes, homework, and ghost-fighting, but now I didn't even have that anymore. Wanna know why? Of course you do. Why else would you be here? Well it started like any other day, I was late for curfew -again- and because I was so dog-tired I walked right past my parents and hastily waved them goodnight while heading upstairs to get ready for bed before they could punish me for it, but there was only one problem-

I was still in ghost-form.

At first they just blinked, sure they were imagining seeing their hated ghost enemy Danny Phantom waltz right into their house and shook their heads. Yet for some reason they couldn't shake off the feeling that something was amiss and peeked around the corner, watching me walk up the stairs, gripping the railing to keep myself steady. Because unfortunately the ghost I ended up fighting on my way home had been none other then Plasmius, who big surprise was being a jerk as usual and toying with me more then anything.

I paused to stifle a yawn when my ghost hearing picked up the distinct sound of a weapon charging and I started to turn my head only to freeze when my mother hissed, "If you value your afterlife, don't you dare move."

Swallowing hard, hoping I was hearing that wrong I turned slowly and asked fearfully, "Mom? What's going on? Crap, i-is there a ghost behind me?"

Unfortunately she answered my question by aiming the ectogun squarely at my chest and replied, "Oh there's a ghost alright, and I'm looking at him. And I'm not your mother. Now, I'm only going to ask you this once...what are you doing in my house?"

"Don't bother asking it questions Mads!" My dad growled, reaching for and then clumsily training his own gun on me too. "It'll tell us anything to save itself, better to capture it first and then-"

"I'm not an _'it!'_ " I exclaimed before I could stop myself, already starting to shake like a leaf in fear. This was bad, very bad. Jazz wasn't home right now to cover for me. I had to think fast, so I blurted out, "Look, uh, I just...I wandered into the wrong house by mistake, but I don't want any trouble I swear! Just put the guns down, please..."

"Well you got trouble punk! No spook is going to wander into my house and put my wife and kids in danger!" My dad shouted, pulling the trigger before mom could stop him.

I noticed too late that it was one of the newer ectoguns I saw them tinkering with this morning, I couldn't remember what they were supposed to do but my guess is it wasn't anything good. And my guess was right when I dodged the blast too slowly and screamed in pain when it shot clean through my left shoulder. The pain was unlike anything I'd ever felt before, as if I was being shocked and stabbed at the same time. It was so intense that I was afraid I was going to turn human any second now in front of my parents so in a blind panic I phased through the floor, clutching my wound that was drenching my white glove in bright green ectoplasmic blood.

My only chance to fool them was to open the portal and trick them into thinking I'd fled into the Ghost Zone and turn human once I phased back into my bedroom. I had more then enough time to do it but the problem was, would I have the energy...?

I was pretty beaten up after my fight with Vlad but most of those wounds had healed almost instantly as usual, the trade off was that it left me extremely tired and my vision was already starting to swim because of the blood loss. Landing on my feet since flying took too much energy, I stumbled over to the ghost portal and tried to open it. My eyes flew wide open when it stayed shut though. Oh great, so now they fix it so it wouldn't randomly open and close at will. Only when I looked closer I noticed that wasn't the problem, they'd completely shut it off! But why would they-!

It wasn't my ghost sense but I could feel it when they turned on the ghost shield and knew I was running out of time! Grimacing as I fought to stay in ghost form, I phased though the roof again back to the first floor though sadly I wasn't invisible too and my dad shouted, "We got a runner! He's heading back upstairs!"

Man and I thought fighting ghosts was scary, this was a thousand times worse! I mean after the whole Freakshow thing this summer I'd seen with my own eyes how they accepted me once they knew my secret, but, even I wasn't stupid enough to think they'd accept me like this when their guns were blazing. They hated ghosts too much to listen to reason and now they thought their son Danny _'Fenton'_ was in danger because a ghost was in the house. And they weren't wrong, I was in danger but not because of a ghost. I was in danger because I was the ghost and they were after me!

I barely managed to make it to my room before I tripped over myself and transformed back to my human form, only to scream when a second wave of pain ripped through me and to my horror I was still bleeding. Only this time...it was real human blood.

That's when I knew. There was no hiding this. My mom was smart and she'd realize the ghost-boy and her son were wounded in the exact same place. They'd think that Danny Phantom was possessing me and try to rip my other self out of me to save their son. And when the very idea of that sent a much worse vision of what could happen into my head I completely lost it! I couldn't let that happen! I couldn't let my parents become the reason that I-

There was no time to worry about that now! There wasn't time to do anything! I couldn't even pack my things, I just had to get out of there right now! Swallowing yet another scream of agony I forced myself to move towards the window and flung it open with all my might. Glancing at my bedroom door as I heard their thunderous steps race up them as they beelined it to my room, I choked on a fearful and painful sob and then threw myself out the window. Just not for the reason people usually flung themselves off the second floor of a building...

I just barely had enough time to make myself float in human form before my knees buckled and I gasped, feeling lightheaded and cold. I had no idea if that chill was my ghost sense going off or not but I didn't care. I scrambled to my feet and ran with all my might, briefly pausing to blast the gate to the backyard down before I made it out into the street.

My only saving grace was that it was dark outside, so dark that even the street lamps were dim and barely gave off any light and it would take time for my parents to figure out where _'I'_ went and climb into the Fenton Assault Vehicle. My first thought was to run to Tucker's or Sam's but they didn't live close enough and I was bleeding out fast. Besides which, if my parents managed to put the pieces together they'd know that Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton were connected somehow one way or another and those would be the first places that they looked. I needed to go somewhere they wouldn't think to look, somewhere they didn't know I knew about or would think to go.

Taking a risk since I needed to catch my breath and at least try to stop the bleeding, I ducked into a nearby alleyway and struggled out of my now ruined shirt, tearing it apart and wrapping the shredded fabric haphazardly around the gaping wound in my shoulder. It still hurt really bad, but not in the way you'd expect. The pain wasn't hot, it was actually cold, like the burn of dry ice on your bare skin. And the pain was making my whole arm go numb almost like I was getting frostbite...

Unable to think beyond just getting myself to safety first, I tried to sit up again and keep moving but my legs refused to cooperate. They were rigid and stiff from running without stopping ever since I made it out the house. Figures my lack of exercise in human form would bite me in the butt again like that time I got shrunk with Dash and had to run away from Skulker.

Too bad the ones chasing me now were much more deadly.

"Come on, come on!" I growled, my eyes flashing green in desperation. "MOVE!"

My weak and blood stained human body refused to obey me so I did the only thing I could do, I forced myself to transform again, biting my fist to stifle another scream when the rings irritated my strange wound and shot into the air after turning my disobedient legs into a ghostly tail.

I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold myself in this form for long so I had to make this count. Looking around frantically I searched for a place to hide. From where I was I could spot the glitzy high class neighborhood just north of me and for a second I considered going to Vlad's when I shook my head. No, he was part of the reason I was in this mess! That stupid fruitloop just refused to lay off of me for one stinking minute after I'd already had a long day after fighting no less then five ghosts all within the space of a few hours, though for once thankfully they showed up AFTER school so I was free to fight them to my heart's content! For all I knew Vlad sent those ghosts after me to make my life more miserable then usual!

My inner rant was interrupted when I spotted my parents turning down the street just below me. With a yelp I tried to turn invisible but instead, I just flickered in and out of view and was forced to fly higher in hopes of hiding behind a cloud or something. That's part of why it was so dark. It was monsoon season and the past few days had been dark and dreary, much to Sam's delight. She loved rainy days because they revitalized the earth as she put it. Shaking my thoughts of Sam away I flew into the nearest cloud, shivering when my clothes were soaked through even though I was fully covered in this form, and prayed that I could throw them off my trail just long enough to-

A low rumble reached my ears and for a second I thought my parents were firing at me when I realized that another rain storm was ramping up. And just my luck, I was smack dab in the middle of a storm-cloud! "Oh come on!" I exclaimed, covering my ears when a booming peel of thunder shook the air around me after a bolt of lighting lashed a few feet away from me.

Seriously it was like everything was out to get me today! So not wanting to get fried by nature's guns too, I shot towards the ground at top speed, not caring anymore if I'd lost my parents or not. I just had to get out of there before I was struck by lighting too. And sadly as if to prove me right, another flash blinded me and I threw my hands in front of my eyes to shield them from the brightness when a second one followed right after and struck me squarely in the back!

A silent scream tore from my lips as everything became pain. The air in my lungs turned to fire, the blood in my veins turned to conduits to the sheer agony filling every fiber of my being, everything just became a world of hurt and if I didn't know any better I would have thought I was trapped in the Fenton Ghost Portal again, blindly searching the walls for the off switch, unable to call out for help and unable to escape. If it wasn't for the fact that I was half-ghost, I know that lighting strike would have killed me. And if not that then the fall would have...

I was dimly aware that I was falling in more ways then one. I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore so they slid closed and a familiar pair of twin rings robbed me of my ghost form once again. And as I fell, I could only pray that by some miracle I would survive and find a way to fix this before I lost my life forever. The other half of it anyway. It was normal and boring at times, but it was still as important to me as keeping my friends and family safe from ghosts. And also, my parents...I didn't want my parents to become murderers if they accidentally killed me. Even if they couldn't accept all of me, I knew they'd never forgive themselves if they killed my human side too. They might hate and even try to remove my ghost half, but they could never hate me enough to do that.

At least, I hoped not...


	2. At Death's Door

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note 03/08/2018:** Ok just to let you all know, I'm doing it again. For this story I'm going to be skipping and or rearranging the events of Season 3 to fit my needs so at the moment only two things have happened from Season 3. One, Vlad is Mayor of Amity Park now, and two Vlad already got his butt handed to him by Danny and Frostbite. The difference though however is that after that fight Vlad realized something important. One way or another Danny was always going to be a part of his life and now that he lived in the same town as him Vlad was already starting to see first-hand that being a hero is not all it's cracked up to be for the young hybrid. And while they still fight though and are at odds with each other, he still cares about Danny enough that there is still one fate that even Vlad would never have wished on the boy. A fate which Vlad's been trying to warn Danny about all along regarding his parents and the potentially devastating consequences of revealing his secret. Too bad that has already become a reality...and now Danny may have to decide between sacrificing his normal human life to continue playing the hero, or turn to his worst enemy for help getting his life back before a fate worse then death befalls Danny when someone far more dangerous then Vlad begins messing with his mind.

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Chapter 1: At Death's Door

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Vlad's POV

I'll admit that I probably shouldn't have been so hard on Daniel during our confrontation this evening. But ever since his childish pranks destroyed my castle in Wisconsin and he forced me to reciprocate against him by taking over this pathetic waste of real estate, I've been very short-tempered when it comes to dealing with him. And just a few days ago Daniel thwarted my plans yet again when I discovered he had found an exceptionally rare ghost relic, the legendary Infimap, that I've been searching for for years with almost no effort at all! How was I to know such an item would be hidden among a race of primitive ghost yeti's...?

"Oh Daniel, when will you learn that all of your actions have consequences? Good or otherwise," I mused, absentmindedly stroking Maddie's fur as I stared out the window.

Of all of Daniel's absurd and downright insulting suggestions regarding ways to belay my loneliness, I could not tell you what possessed me to take this one seriously and actually adopt a cat. And the one I brought home with me -or rather the one that had chosen me because she was the only one that was unafraid of my ghost powers since animals have a sixth sense when it comes to the supernatural- proved to be a welcome distraction so for once, I was thankful for Daniel's advice.

It was nice to have a living companion to come home to that would give me company while I was doing the everyday mundane tasks of signing papers and making calls for running my businesses or doing the same thing but the kind that was related to taking care of my new mayoral duties. The Maddie Fenton program was fine and all but she wasn't real, she could never love me like the real thing and bring warmth back to my cold heart. The same could be said of Daniel though...

My fingers clenched as I thought of what his stubbornness had cost me, the prime clone I'd worked months to perfect perished when that little failure, Dani, betrayed me. Oh she was going to get hers. However, in a way her actions were a wake up call when it came to the real ' _Danny_.' He was never going to accept me willingly, and if I tried to force him he would rebel against me as he always has. But that didn't change the fact that even now I still wanted him by my side. I wanted him to be a part of my life, just not like this. And thus my frustration with him had grown into a deep hatred, not of him, but of his foolish defiance when I could offer him so much if he'd only allow me to.

On the other hand, looking back on my most recent plans regarding Daniel after having finally found a way to get what I wanted, or something as close as I thought I could get with the boy at this point in time, I know now that I went too far and defiled Daniel's privacy in the most horrible way possible. I practically tortured the boy to get that blasted mid-morph sample, and the look on his face when he phased through my chest, through all of our battles and confrontations not once had I seen him look so hurt, tired, angry, and dare I say even afraid of me in a way I had never seen before. That's why when it came to consequences to one's own actions, I knew perfectly well that I was the one who drove him to seek out vengeance against me months later...

I found myself genuinely concerned about him when Daniel took a turn down the same dark path I was all but used to by now. It was so unlike him to hate me to such a degree that he would go out of his way to destroy my home! And I was much too angry with him at the time to even consider not going through with my plans to respond to his actions against me tenfold and make his life a living hell if that's what he wanted, which I'm sure it wasn't. He was just angry and hurt by what I had done to him and now I can safely say that I do not blame him in the least. Daniel was just a boy after all, try as he might to pretend otherwise. A gifted one true but still just a boy nevertheless.

As much as I warned him against continuing with his infantile need to be a hero and save everyone I never once wanted him to follow in my footsteps to that degree. I later felt rather disgusted with myself when I refused to reconcile with him and drop these petty schemes ruining his already chaotic life. The damage was done though and now I would just have to live with it unless something changed.

And believe me, it would have to be a drastic change indeed to make me restrain my mounting fury towards the only other person like myself that I so longed to have as my son more then I wanted another underling but simply refused to see or even consider what I was offering him. No, Daniel was so much more then just some pawn I wished to have under my thumb. If given the proper guidance Daniel would very likely surpass me in terms of the level of power at his disposal. He had the skills and the potential, just not the means or knowledge of how to use it to their full extent.

I was startled out of my musings when a thunderbolt struck outside and frightened poor Maddie. In fact she scratched me by mistake when she fled from my arms and curled up in a corner, ears folded back and pupils dilated. That was one of the few set backs with this cat, she was a sweet and affectionate animal but was easily frightened. However I'd already dealt with this before and knew exactly what to do. Kneeling down next to her, I adopted a soft tone and hushed her, trying to reassure Maddie that there was nothing to be frightened of. I made the mistake of trying to pick her up the first time this happened and she would have clawed my hands to shreds if I didn't turn my hands intangible and dropped her, letting her wind down on her own.

I smiled when her eyes returned to normal and she unsurely inched forward, ears raised slightly when something else caught my attention when another bolt of lighting flashed in sequence with a second one immediately after. It was a familiar scream that drowned out even the thunder that I've heard more then enough times to recognize it anywhere-

"Daniel!"

Something was different about this shout he was making, it wasn't a mere outcry of pain from a powerful attack, it was pure unadulterated agony. I pretended to ignore the painful desperation of his screams the last time I'd heard it, when I had Daniel trapped and at my mercy, but this was something I could not ignore. Especially when it was right above my mansion and something else was responsible for it.

Ignoring the cat I transformed and teleported outside, alarmed when the cry was cut short since he must've just lost consciousness. I cared little for the rain slowly drenching me as I scanned the dark sky for him only to find nothing. "Oh confound it all where is he?!"

After that, while I knew it would be much weaker in his human form I felt for his ectoplasmic signature and the moment I locked in on it, my red eyes snapped open and I teleported again to get as close as I dared in case he was still locked in combat with some ghost. He wouldn't want my help, but should it look like Daniel was about to die otherwise then I would step in. Because regardless of whether he was by my side or not, I had lied to him when I said my clones would make him obsolete. For you see, the truth was that Daniel was too valuable to me to lose. I realized now that no one could stand in as a substitute for the bond he and I shared, a bond I still wanted but was unsure how to create now that things have reached a boiling point. And if there came a day when he did fall to one of his enemies, if I couldn't save him I would tear apart the ghost that dealt the fatal blow with my bare hands. In fact, if it was a human who did it I was willing to destroy their lives in every sense of the word with my power should they steal something as irreplaceable to me as Daniel.

In the time it had taken me to blink some water out of my eyes I saw a small human form plummeting to the earth and flew towards it at full speed. It was too dangerous to teleport because then I would have lost sight of him. I still couldn't sense any other ghosts but that did not necessarily mean we were alone. For all I knew the boy was being gunned down by the Guys in White. And believe you me, after the mess they made of my castle even with Daniel's little hint of ghostly contraband, I was all too eager to get back at them as well whether they were with the government or not. Still, my only concern was with Daniel right now. Nothing else mattered.

I easily caught the injured teen inches from the ground and thank goodness for that too because he was in no shape to handle a collision like that without suffering major injuries, in fact Daniel looked much worse off then he did after our scuffle earlier. He'd even gone as far as tearing his shirt apart to stem the bleeding from a wound in his left shoulder, which from the look of it had been poorly and hastily wrapped and was already soaked completely through with a mixture of green and red blood...

Landing as softly as I could, I quickly examined the boy with a practiced eye, searching for any indication that a ghost had been involved with his injuries when to my alarm I noticed something more serious. Daniel, he wasn't breathing! Laying him down on the pavement I began performing CPR, trying to get him to breathe. My own heart was racing in fear because Daniel had NEVER gotten himself this hurt before. If I didn't do something fast he would die in a matter of minutes!

"Breathe you stupid boy!" I bellowed, slapping Daniel across the face with the back of my hand.

Even after taking such a rough blow, there had been no reaction at all. Reigning in my raising panic and thinking logically, I decided that my next best course of action was to shock him with my electrical powers and hope that would be enough to restart his heart. It should, since his ghost-half would be more then likely react to it. Either way it was my only chance!

Charging my hands with energy, I snarled and as if this were like any other of our other battles -though this one was for his life- I poured my energy into his body. His back arched but Daniel collapsed immediately after, still unresponsive. With another grunt I repeated the process. And again, and again, until finally, I got fed up with Daniel even resisting my attempts to save his life and bellowed as sparks flew all around us in response to my fury-

"DANIEL JAMES FENTON YOU ARE NOT DYING TODAY DO YOU HEAR ME?! I REFUSE TO LET YOU WIN THIS TIME. IF YOU WANT TO DIE SO BADLY THEN LET IT BE AT MY HAND, NO ONE ELSES! UNTIL THEN, BREATHE OR SO HELP ME I WILL OVERSHADOW YOU MYSELF AND MAKE YOU!"

At long last Daniel's back arched one more time and he gasped in that first precious life-saving breath of air, drinking it in in huge greedy gulps. He didn't fully regain consciousness or anything, but at least he was breathing again so I sighed in relief. My relief was short lived though when Daniel's body started to convulse and he hugged himself as he thrashed on the ground. It was as if he suddenly recalled the pain he'd just experienced and screamed at the top of his lungs, sending me flying back when it came out as that strange new power of his, that ungodly loud and terrifying Ghostly Wail.

Luckily it wasn't aimed at me, but I still had to stop him before he wore himself out or put too much stress on his barely-beating heart again so in desperation I phased into the ground and flew until I was directly underneath him then reached up and covered his mouth. You'd be surprised how often such a simple solution can arise to solve a seemingly complex problem. Still, while his wail had been cut off Daniel continuing thrashing in my arms, his eyes rolling back until there was one final shutter and he fell still with the most pitiful whimper I've ever heard.

Phasing through him and returning to a more dignified upright position, I deftly picked up the troubled teen bridal style, careful not to jostle his wound too much and I softly wondered aloud as I stared at the storm tossed sky above us which from the looks of it was completely ghost free, "What happened to you little badger? Who did this to you?"

I wasn't expecting an answer but I was caught off guard when he suddenly turned and clung to me, sobbing, "No...mom...dad...please...put the guns down. I-I didn't mean to show you...I wasn't ready..."

My eyes flew wide in horror then flashed an impossibly bright red as I angrily exclaimed, "My god...! YOUR PARENTS DID THIS!?"

I was mostly referring to the wound on his shoulder but, little did I know his body was still decorated with plenty of other battle wounds. Most of which were ones that I caused. Either way, Daniel shuttered in my arms again before going limp, breathing heavily and unevenly as a terrible fever took hold of him trying to fight off the infection that the gun wound was spreading like poison through his veins since it was designed to inhibit ghost regenerative properties and paralyze them long enough to be captured and studied. Really it was thanks to his human half that Daniel had managed to make it out as far as he did before the toxin took hold, not to mention it probably would have gotten to him long before if it wasn't for that second bolt of lighting that struck him.

Not that I knew any of that. Yet.

All I knew was that he needed serious medical attention and I was the ONLY person who could provide it. I would just have to wait until Daniel woke up to find out exactly what happened and if my worse fears were about to be confirmed. The fear that the love of my life, Maddie Fenton, had just rejected her own son for being half-ghost. For if she could not accept him, there was no hope she would ever accept me. Therefore, like with everything else it seemed, Daniel was all I had left. And now it was quite possible that I was all he had left.

And I wasn't sure if I was happy about that...


	3. What To Do With You?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 2: What To Do With You?

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Vlad's POV

It was difficult, but for the time being I had to keep my actions methodical, professional, and to the point as I further examined and treated Daniel's wounds. And I did this as much for his sake as well as that of my own sanity. Even so, the pang of guilt I felt when I recognized many of his smaller injuries as ones that I had inflicted personally stilled my hand more then once and I struggled against letting it interfere with my work.

I find it ironic that after witnessing the shoddy work Daniel did patching himself up while on the run how it made me wonder quite honestly just how often he came home injured, either from a ghost fight or being bullied at school. And yes, I knew all about the bullying after hacking into the school's security cameras -which had since been removed since that dress code and other rules were receded to restore my image as a benevolent and open minded mayor to the young folk of this town- and saw Daniel take a few punches on camera. Apparently this one jock, Dash Baxter, had taken a particular interest in Daniel since even before he gained his ghost powers and regularly bullied the boy. But because of the student body's hatred of both myself and Daniel when those strict rules were in place because I told everyone that it was in fact Danny Fenton who had _'inspired me'_ to become the mayor of this town it only gave the small-minded jock all the more reason to take out his anger about their situation at school and on their prime _'hang out'_ on him.

Knowing their type from being bullied in high school and college too, I knew that it was likely to continue because that self-important adolescent had nothing else better to do and Daniel never gave him a reason to do otherwise. In my professional opinion Daniel was the one being an even bigger fool by not fighting back. Because contrary to what the boy believed, there were plenty of ways to do so that do not involve so much as lifting a finger. Daniel, if nothing else, was very good at thinking on his feet and had his sharp wits when it came to outsmarting most of his ghostly adversaries, so it was a shame he never thought to use those skills to his advantage outside of a ghost-fighting setting.

Regardless of the beatings Daniel had undoubtedly taken from the jock and ghosts alike, I had to wonder. Just how blind were his parents in actual times of need? How often did he come home bleeding and they were none the wiser to his pain? How was it that they could instantly clue into when he made a mistake or was late for curfew but not notice when their youngest child was struggling not only physically but emotionally and he needed their support? Were they so caught up in themselves that they were...neglecting Daniel? No, that was preposterous! Daniel was always telling me with such conviction how much his parents loved him, yet, the fact that his parents had SHOT him proved otherwise. They appeared to hate ghosts more then they loved their own children, and for once I found myself hoping that I was wrong about this because the implications were far too troubling where Daniel was involved.

Either way, it would seem that things were much more difficult for Daniel at home then even I realized or he dared to let on. He didn't want me to know -much less make jabs at- the fact that his life was less then perfect even though he had a family and I did not. Because while clearly Daniel loves and trusts his parents, the fact of the matter is, deep down, he's actually afraid of them. Not only afraid of them rejecting him, but of outright attacking him as they likely had in this case without giving him a chance to explain himself.

If that is what resulted in Daniel's close call where the boy nearly died and became a full ghost in my arms...there's no telling what I might do to them. Including my dear Maddie, because this may very well be one thing that even I cannot forgive her for. Daniel deserved to be treated much better then this after all the good he has done. Even if I disagreed with his heroic delusions, I could not deny that being the honorable sort suited him much better then being the angry, vengeful young man he's been acting like as of late. Though a large part of that might be how sleep deprived he was that had only grown worse since I moved here to his little town.

I knew he looked extremely tired today when we fought but...when I stopped to think about it from his perspective were things really so disagreeable for him even after I decided that for the time being I was done trying to make his life more miserable? Well, even if things were that stressful then it was probably his own fault anyway. Aside from our fight earlier this evening -or rather yesterday since it was well past midnight now- I honestly haven't been plotting anything new against the boy or his father.

In fact, after our battle over the Infimap I began practically ignoring him so that I could focus on other more important matters then giving him a hard time. Yet now there he was, laying helpless and injured on my examining table after having been brought back from the brink of death, and I still wasn't sure what to do with him...

Aside from the bullet wound in Daniel's left shoulder and the scorch mark on his back, most of his wounds were superficial. Primarily because our ghost halves, our body's ability to heal itself was almost instantaneous due to the regenerative properties we possess like every other ghost, though our powers take it a step further by healing our human side as well. This singular trait of ours comes in very handy when after battling with each other or another ghost and we have to resume our daily routines the next day. If not for that simple yet important fact about our ghost DNA that lightning strike that struck him down would have killed Daniel instantly if it wasn't for those superhuman abilities.

No mere human could have survived a direct blow like that.

Knowing that, it deeply troubled me that Daniel's most serious wound, the one in his shoulder, still wasn't healing properly. Upon further examination of his injuries I quickly discovered that remnants of that energy bullet were still stuck inside the wound and that was what was causing the problem. Therefore I immediately set to work removing them.

Unfortunately the virulent energy from the bullet was still coursing through his system like poison so until I made an antidote to combat the effects of it, he would just have to fight off the infection on his own which is why he was still so feverish. When I examined the energy shards after extracting them from the wound it appeared to be made of some ecto-inhibitor alloy of sorts that suppressed a ghost's ability to regenerate while at the same time inflicted enough pain to paralyze it's victim. I know that those two ghost-hunting parents of his have invented many anti-ghost devices before, but this...this was by far their most dangerous invention yet. And if it could inflict THIS much pain on my little badger who was only half-ghost, I shuttered to think what the effects might be on a real one.

I also winced at the thought of what could have happened if those two had successfully captured him if I hadn't stepped in and they began unknowingly dissecting their own son; the horror on their faces once Daniel turned human as soon as he lost enough energy would have been indescribable. With that in mind, Daniel was right to have fled. If his words earlier and this injury were anything to judge by, it looked like they had refused to listen to reason anyway. But there was no way to know for sure if they knew everything about their son yet until he told me that in person.

Now that I think about it though, Daniel must have been living in constant fear of them killing his ghost-half ever since he became a hybrid which begged the question...how on earth did he manage to do that for so long? How did he manage to hide his fear whenever they excitedly showed him a new weapon that, like this one, could very well be used to kill the other side of him? I could scarcely imagine how trying that must be for him to do almost on a daily basis since those two were always tinkering with one invention or another aimed at eliminating ghosts and their own son was half of the very thing they were striving to destroy...

And this time, they had nearly succeeded to do so with Daniel when he hadn't done anything to warrant such hostility from them but be what he is, which in my eyes is perfection, but in theirs...he was always an abomination. On top of feeling like a failure as a student, Daniel must feel like a failure as a son too and was scared that they'd never accept him. That was why he never told them. It wasn't because of the threat I once made to reveal us both when we first met if he told them about me, but because in the end...Daniel was deathly afraid of proving me right about them thinking he was some unlovable thing and they would never look at him with the same loving eyes again. No, only hate and fear would burn in their eyes. And while I did not mind it from Jack at least since it would give me an excuse to destroy him after all, I did not wish that fate on Daniel in the least.

* * *

Pinching the bridge of my nose once the new bandages were in place around his shoulder and torso, I stared down at Daniel's unconscious form for the umpteenth time with a mixture of anger and fear. Anger because of how his parents had dared to hurt my little badger, and fear because I had no way of knowing yet what happened between him and his parents until Daniel regained consciousness and told me. And I was going to get answers from him, even if I had to force them out of the stubborn teen. Only then could I take the appropriate actions based on what his current situation really was. I could either blackmail the boy, saying he owed me for saving his life, or be gracious for once and send him on his merry way once his wounds healed and he could go back to his normal secret ghost-fighting life if it turned out they still didn't know that their son was half-ghost and only attacked his counterpart with more serious results then usual.

As for right now though all I could do was wait and hope that his fever would go down on its own soon since it was dangerously high at the moment. Thanks to that blasted ecto-inhibitor, his ghostly healing abilities were almost non-existent so it was making it much more difficult for Daniel to fight off the infection. That, and for unknown reasons Daniel seemed to be greatly distressed about something in his fevered state which troubled me as well...

A few moments ago I heard Daniel muttering something nonsensical in his sleep and being curious as to what he was saying, I paused to listen. If not for my ghost hearing I might not have caught any of it since his voice was so weak after using that strange vocal power twice in a row in response to his pain, but I did manage to pick out a few words from his breathless whispers.

It was mostly just things like _'no, stay away'_ and _'this can't be happening,'_ but then, to my surprise I heard him tearfully gasp _'not again, please, not again'_ before Daniel started shivering in fear and not from the cold then eventually fell silent again save for his labored breathing. He's lucky I had the foresight to simply phase the water off of us both once we were safely inside my mansion and I brought him to my lab for treatment. I planned to move him to one of the guest bedrooms once his condition stabilized but as I said, that bullet wound in particular was causing major complications though hopefully now that all of the pieces were removed his ghost half would start healing both halves wounds.

"This is going to be a long night..." I sighed after removing my surgical gloves and tossing them into the trash and pulled the sleeves of my white oxford shirt back down since I'd removed my usual black suit while treating his injuries. Then after replacing it and brushing off some non-existent dirt off my shoulders, I spared Daniel another glace, stepped closer to him and gently brushed some of his dark hair away from his sweat-beaded brow before turning away to walk over to my work bench again to begin analyzing the shards. I still needed to do that so I could calibrate the energy signature they were infused with and concoct a cure for it's ghost-healing blocking properties to administer to Daniel right away in case his fever worsened.

If nothing else I was very good at waiting games so there was ample time for me to do that and search for clues as to what MIGHT have happened to Daniel which resulted in his current condition. Namely by downloading the feed from my spy cameras that I still had littered all around his home. Well, except for the one he and his friends destroyed after the Infimap incident. Such simpletons, didn't they realize I had more then just the one hidden in Fenton Works...?

Without looking up from my work, I ordered, "Computer, download all security footage from the spy cameras located in Fenton Works with from within the last twenty four hours. And stand by to analyze an unknown energy sample once I've set the smaller fragments of it aside for further study."

" _Affirmative, downloading security footage now. Standing by for energy reading-_ " the Maddie program responded and once I saw that the files were uploading to my main operating system, I set to work on breaking down the shards into smaller samples and placed them in a safe place while keeping one with me to run a full diagnostic scan over.

Even at first glance I could tell these were no ordinary ecto-bullets; because unlike the usual green glow that standard ecto-energy gave off, these shards were glowing teal, almost blue. I was careful not to cut myself on the sharp edges of the largest piece I kept apart from the others since I knew how dangerous it was, but thanks to my ghost senses I could actually feel the distinct hum of unnatural energy that infused into the metal. And to my surprise it felt somewhat electrical yet...strangely cold. In fact with how strong the energy signature was in only a small shard of it, one would think it would be scalding hot yet it was the exact opposite; it was bitterly cold.

Yet, something told me that it wasn't like this before it entered Daniel's body. It was likely that these bullets were designed to keep the ghost from simply phasing the projectile out it by disguising its energy as their own while simultaneously attacking and blocking it. How did I know this? Because if I didn't know any better, I'd say that the energy it was giving off felt alarmingly similar to Daniel's. If my theory proved to be correct though, did that mean...Daniel had a cold ghost-core? How fascinating...

As precarious as the situation was right now, I couldn't help but smile wickedly as I called over to him and challenged boldly, "You know Daniel, it really would be in your best interest to wake up soon before I'm tempted to take advantage of this rare opportunity to examine you more closely. I'm sure you wouldn't want me to find something I can use against you in the near future, now would you?"

My smile faded in an instant when Daniel's eyes suddenly snapped open, his entire eye glowing green and not just his iris's as his back arched off the examination table and he screamed, "NOOOO!"

Having not wanted to frighten Daniel by actually strapping him to the table just in case he regained consciousness sooner and thought I had kidnapped him again, I cursed under by breath and rushed over to restrain him, grabbing him by the shoulders to force him lay down again. He was going to hurt himself more if he kept thrashing like this! "Daniel! Daniel for pity's sake calm down! It's alright, you're safe now. No one's going to hurt you! Now stop struggling and relax before you reopen your wound and start bleeding again!"

I might as well have been talking to a brick wall because in his fevered state Daniel couldn't hear let alone comprehend a single word I was saying. He was probably too weak to use that Ghostly Wail of his but I didn't want to risk him wasting any more of the energy he needed to fight off the infection in his left shoulder. That's when I realized I had no choice, I had to sedate him...

While I held him down myself, I quickly created a duplicate who immediately flew over to the opposite side of the room and brought over a knockout gas mask since it would take too long to find where I'd put my empty syringes and various bottles of tranquilizers. At least Daniel wasn't tossing his head too much as he cried out so my duplicate managed to place the mask over his nose and mouth fairly easily and with a press of a button it begin pumping out sleeping gas with a low hiss and it slowly began filling his lungs.

Already weak from blood loss and his high fever, it didn't take long for the gas to start taking effect despite Daniel's feeble struggle to fight against it. His limbs betrayed him first and went lax in my grip as he unwillingly began to relax, his eye lids fluttering and rolling back slightly. "No...don't...someone...make them stop. Make them stop...before it's too late...for me...for...everyone..." Daniel whispered, his hand attempting to reach out the moment I let go of his shoulders towards something only his fevered mind could see.

"Oh, but I will Daniel," I found myself replying calmly, resting a worried hand on his brow as he began succumbing to the sleeping gas. "One way or another I won't let them hurt you again. Because the truth is that this time I'm saving you simply because I do care what happens to you little badger, contrary to what you believe. Now be a good boy and go to sleep. I promise I won't do anything to you while you're resting so don't you worry about that. Even I would never take advantage of you while you're so distressed and helpless before me. I only wish I knew why you seem so afraid..."

I smiled sadly when his half-laden eyes shifted towards me and the duplicate of my ghost form that was holding the mask on his face and to my surprise, frightened tears began to spill over in his now blue eyes and he weakly begged, "Please, Vlad...don't do it. I-I don't want to become _'him.'_ Don't let it happen...not again. Run Vlad...run before he...kills you too..."


	4. Good Intentions

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note 03/10/2018:** I hope this chapter turns out well, I was trying to match up the muttering Vlad heard from Danny to Danny's actual nightmares but there are things that didn't slip out that you'll only see from this POV. Makes it more interesting that way. Anyways, lemme know what you guys think and thanks for your support, getting noticed is great inspiration to keep writing more chapters! Granted they won't always be updated fast but still, write it and the people will come to read!

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Chapter 3: Good Intentions

* * *

Danny's POV

Even in my dreams, there was no escaping the truth about all of the things I've tried to keep buried deep inside of me. Things I've kept from my sister and my two best friends because I know from experience that a hero can't be weak. The moment he's weak, he loses everything in an instant. And now I have. It was hard enough trying to be a normal kid like everyone else, but when you have to hide a secret as big as mine from everyone, including the people you love who happen to be ghost hunters out to snuff out the afterlife of your other self, yeah, good luck not screwing that up royally the moment you let your guard down like I did...

I tried. I tried so hard to always do the right thing, to be strong, to always win, and I didn't even realize it at the time that I had taken things too far with Vlad let alone notice in time exactly what those hurt feelings and bitterness towards him was doing to me. I knew I was wrong to have picked a fight with him, but I was so angry and resentful at him that I couldn't keep it contained anymore! I had to do something before I snapped because then I might have done something much worse then just pull some harmless pranks on him if I'd let it fester any longer. But, the moment I made the choice to pull the first punch, I couldn't stop. And at the same time I'd already lost the fight within myself lately that I've been hiding all along. The fight with myself not to become anything even remotely like _'him.'_

It's just that I was so tired of being tired all the time because of my fights with all these stupid ghosts! Tired of constantly feeling like a failure in my parents eyes, my teachers, and even Vlad's. Tired of never being good enough no matter what I did or how hard I tried. But most of all, I hate the fact that the only other person like me in the world who I can talk to about any of this, the one person who might be able to understand at least some of what I'm going through, just had to be the ghost I'm fighting with the most!

And you know what's even worse? The truth is that even now, I'm afraid of disappointing Vlad because he's all I have to look up to when it comes to being the only other halfa in the entire world! He's the only person I could have turned to for help tonight when my parents attacked me but I didn't want to because...I felt like Vlad would just rub it in my face instead of taking me seriously as usual and I couldn't trust him not to take advantage of my situation if I came running to him because he'd probably want to just keep me there with him forever.

When we first became enemies, I was only frustrated with him at first during our battles because Vlad just refused to listen to reason about letting go of his stupid grudge and his crush on my mom so that just maybe we could work something out and become allies or friends or something besides enemies! Even if we couldn't be friends, at least we could stop beating up on each other and I really thought that if we teamed up we could learn a lot from each other. Granted I have picked up a few tricks from Vlad while watching him during our fights but, I could never be sure if he was sneakily trying to teach me those things on purpose or he was just messing with me and arrogantly thought that it didn't matter how hard I tried to copy him since I'd never be as good at being half-ghost as him. Well guess what, I rose to the challenge and trained my butt off to prove him wrong and judging by our track record I've beaten him at his own game plenty of times.

I just...I just wish Vlad wouldn't always ruin the moment when I felt like I'd actually accomplished something by acting like he didn't notice or even remotely cared about how much even his most likely fake words of praise meant to me. Even if it was a lie, it was one of the few lies of his I WANTED to believe. Somewhere along the way though as his mockery started getting more and more personal, even outright degrading, I started to seriously hate Vlad. Because like I said before, at first I felt like Vlad was at least trying to take me seriously and tried to help me improve, whether it was directly or not.

He claims to understand, but for all his brilliance and cunning, Vlad is a clueless idiot when it comes to how I feel. About him, and about everything else. Well no, I guess there's at least one thing Vlad and I both understood painfully well now-

Rejection.

That last memory of my parents faces, the absolute disgust and hate in their eyes, it scared me more then the murderous expression on the face of any ghost I've ever faced before. And like a cruel joke what happened earlier kept playing on repeat in my head, reminding me that my life was probably over now in more ways then one...

Only now, the events I saw in my head changed because this time I didn't manage to get away and my dad didn't stop at just shooting me with one bullet. In this nightmare I was having he shot me in every place he could think of to keep me from escaping; my leg, my other shoulder, even my stomach, everywhere he could think of as if I was a butterfly being pinned in place by bullets instead of needles.

And my mom, my typically overly affectionate mom, just watched him do it with a cold calculating glare before finally stopping him with a calm hand on his shoulder. Explaining to him that if he kept shooting me then there would be and I quote _'not enough left of it to dissect down in the lab.'_ Yet they both still had their guns aimed at me, ready to fire again at any sign of resistance...

It was like I was some prize buck they'd shot down in the woods like normal hunters, an animal that didn't have any feelings, only instincts. Well my instincts were screaming that I needed to defend myself, to fight back, to...hurt them if I wanted to survive! But I couldn't. These were my parents! They didn't know what they were doing and I was too scared to tell them the truth even now because...what if they decided I was as good as dead even if I told them? What if Vlad was right all along and they'd stop loving me?

Unable to stop the tears, I finally found my voice and looked up at them as I pleaded, "No please, mom, dad, put the guns down. I-I didn't mean to show you the truth. I wasn't ready!"

Their eyes suddenly flashing red, they grinned and my mom pressed the barrel of her gun directly between my eyes and said venomously, "Oh? You weren't ready to tell us what a monster you are? We should have seen this sooner and I can only blame myself for that. A mother should know her child best shouldn't she? Then again...you're not my son..." tears of bitterness and loss filled her eyes and she tightened the grip on the trigger ever so slightly, and as my mom turned her face away from mine, she continued tearfully, "It's clear to me now that my real son must have lost control of himself a long time ago back in the hospital after the accident, and that portal had somehow given birth to...this ghost inside of you that's been fooling us into thinking it's still our son too. Danny, baby, if you're still in there then I want you to know that it's ok. I understand now that everything that's happened since then because of this ghost-boy isn't your fault; it took over your mind, it made you do things you didn't want to, made you hide this from us when we could have helped you get rid of that parasite if you had only managed to tell us sooner! It's too late now though, clearly it's been controlling you for so long that it's started to actually think it's a part of you now, that it is our son, and because of that it isn't likely to let you go without a fight. Either way, as a mother, it is up to me to end my baby boy's suffering, and I swear to you ghost-boy, I will do whatever it takes to save my son from you even if I have to hurt him to do so..."

* * *

I opened my mouth again to beg her not to do it when there was a flash of blinding green light and then, nothing. The next thing I knew, I was strapped to some kind of table tilted up so much that I was practically standing on my feet and my parents were across from me, working on something I couldn't see because their backs were to me but I saw sparks fly as they finished welding the final piece onto whatever they were working on. When they turned around though, my eyes grew impossibly wide and in a blind panic I struggled to get free because those weren't the Fenton Ghost Gloves, those were...Vlad's Ghost GAUNTLETS! The same ones he used in the alternate future when-

"No, stay away!" I whimpered fearfully as the two of them came closer to me, those claws glinting in the dim florescent light like the fangs of my other self catching the light as he grinned triumphantly, knowing what was about to happen next. "This can't be happening! Not again, please, not again! You don't know what you're doing! Stop!"

I flinched away this time when my mom brushed my hair back and kissed my brow tearfully as she explained, "Don't worry sweetheart, it'll all be over soon. This is for your own good. It's the only way to set you free of that awful ghost inside of you."

Turning to my dad as a last ditch effort to talk some sense into at least one of them I begged without realizing what I wasn't talking to my parents anymore, "Please, Vlad don't do this. I-I don't want to become _'him.'_ Don't let it happen, not again."

In a mixture of Vlad's voice and my dad's, he raised the claws and told me sadly, "I'm sorry son, this is the only way to set you free from all the pain. I don't have a choice."

Bracing myself for the worse I screamed helplessly, "NOOOO!"

* * *

After that my dream abruptly shifted gears and my mom faded away the instant my dad turned into Vlad and as if I was paralyzed, I wasn't able to feel or react to when the claws were plunged into my chest. I could only watch as the horrific scene unfolded. I couldn't even scream. Not at first anyway until my other self, the now entirely human Danny Fenton, gasped and fell on his hands and knees when the table released him and he woke up from the shock. Meanwhile I was forced to do whatever he did and looked wherever he looked. It was a very jarring experience and it made me wonder if this is what it felt like for Tucker when I overshadowed him but made sure he was still aware of what I was doing so he didn't feel as...defiled I guess.

Anyways, it played out just like the future Vlad described. My ghost half was pissed and he angrily threw Vlad against the nearest wall which tore two huge gashes in his chest as the claws were ripped out of his body. Then he bent down, picking up the claws and putting them on with a dark glint shining in his eyes as he leered down at Vlad.

But what surprised me was how I was still connected to my ghost-half even in human form as if he was like any other duplicate, only this one was sentient. It was a part of me that had been forcefully removed and I could tell he didn't like it one bit. In fact, he felt betrayed by Vlad AND the other side of himself, namely my human half...

I could feel just how angry and hurt he felt like it was my own but...it was so deep and so dark that it scared me and I shrunk back from it, watching in horror as the soon-to-be-Dan ripped out Vlad's ghost-half, determined to make the man pay dearly for hurting him like this just when he started trusting Vlad with everything and hoped he could put an end to our pain. Because instead of removing our emotions and leaving us the same as before, still half-ghost just like him, in his haste to do something to help us Vlad miscalculated and those stupid claws accidentally split me in half instead just like the Fenton Ghost Catcher, only this was much worse. We could still feel everything the other half was feeling, the pain, the heartache, all of it like it was a fresh wound bleeding freely and sending renewed waves of agony through our hearts.

I could tell my ghost-half was seething inside when he realized that Vlad had just screwed our lives up AGAIN, even when we had nothing left to lose! Yeah, this was all his fault! If Vlad really cared about me half as much as he said he did, why didn't he offer to tutor me to help me with more then just my ghost powers? Why didn't Vlad offer to help me with no strings attached for once to prove that he wasn't evil after all and just wanted to build a relationship with me...?

If I'd been doing better in school I never would have cheated on that stupid test! And if Vlad had bothered to help me at all even just a little bit to keep most of the ghosts off my back with his power and influence so I could get some shut eye, then maybe I wouldn't have been too tired all the time to study when and if I managed to make it home by curfew! Instead, all Vlad ever did was think of himself! Even now, all he cared about was making this whole transition easier for him by erasing everything I ever was. Well even if I was the one who asked him to do it, Vlad should have known better that taking the easy way isn't always the right way! And that making the wrong choice can cost you dearly when someone you care about is involved. I should know, since my last bad decision killed everyone I loved, plus the one teacher who didn't see me as a total screw up.

Enraged, I could tell that all my ghost-half wanted to do was give Vlad a taste of his own medicine and make him feel all the pain he had just forced me to relive. That's why my ghost-half overshadowed Vlad's ghost-half, Plasmius, who for some reason in his mind was now the true cause of his agony, not the accident. What he didn't expect was that Vlad's own buried feelings of sorrow, anger, and pain would quickly overpower his own and twisted my ghost-half's mind into something dark, evil, and hateful.

A monster.

And that monster, before I could comprehend what I was seeing was my other self turned full ghost, which should have been impossible since his human half was still alive, suddenly he rounded on me like an animal sensing primal fear and seeking to exploit it. Then as his first act of malice or perhaps a sick excuse for mercy so I didn't have to suffer along with him, reached forward and snapped my human half's neck.

Like a ragdoll my human self crumpled to the floor but somehow my real spirit could move freely now. It was so bizarre. But that's when I realized...what was left of my human half...had just become a ghost too. This was probably only because of the dream since I doubted this had actually happened in the other timeline but when my evil-self turned to Vlad next, who for the first time in his life was crying as he crawled over to my lifeless body, I snapped out of my shocked daze and flew in front of him. Creating a wall between him and my now evil-self.

I was terrified of course seeing myself like that with the white flaming hair, blue skin, and eerie red eyes, and for awhile I just kept staring into the blood red eyes of my evil self in disbelief until he smirked wickedly in a very Vlad-like manner and slowly floated closer to us, his forked tongue tasting the fear in the air but I stood my ground. Well, floated my ground anyway.

After that, since this side of me really had nothing left to lose, I turned to look down at Vlad as he sobbed pitifully and cradled my lifeless body, rocking back and forth. He was begging me to not be dead and kept asking for my forgiveness over and over. It was honestly really sad to see him look so broken and helpless because of me. That's when it suddenly hit me that as much as I once hated him, I didn't want Vlad to die too whether it was in real life or this hellish nightmare. He'd lost too much already. The object of his vengeance, his former best friend, his true love, my mother, and now me. So in order to make this all mean something and hope doing this would somehow save Vlad, I called back to him shakily and cried, "Run Vlad! Run before he kills you too. Please, I can't lose you either, not now, you're all I have left..."


	5. When Fate Comes Calling

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note 03/11/2018:** _*clears throat then says in dramatic Vlad voice*_ Curse you daylight savings time! Your time changes ways have messed up my post date for the previous chapter! But whateves! Anyways, onto the next chapter and I must say I'm pretty proud of this one since I got to test my hand at writing out Vlad being his usual silver tongued self and manipulating things the way he wants! Hope you all enjoy and wow, it's only been a few days but the view count and response to this new story has been explosive! Who knew everyone was so into angst? Or maybe I'm just that good of a writer when it comes to Vlad. Just kidding! But seriously thanks for all of your support and I'm really happy this is turning out so well.

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Chapter 4: When Fate Comes Calling

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Vlad's POV

As much as I wanted to know what was on the security footage it was already well past two in the morning after Daniel's last troubling episode, I took the the liberty of moving Daniel to the guest room closest to mine instead and decided to call it a night. The footage would be there when I returned to the lab anyway and there was one last problem that needed to be addressed since this situation with his parents was much more serious then I originally thought. Knowing the Fenton's as I do they were most likely still out there hunting after Danny Phantom at this very moment. And if they thought he had something to do with their son's disappearance then I was bound to get a call from them before long asking for my help finding their missing child as both the mayor of their town and Jack's _'friend.'_

Regardless of what lies I'd have to feed them this time, my primary concern was Daniel since his fever had yet to break and as a result his condition was less then ideal at present. There was no way I was letting those two anywhere near him even if I turned out to be wrong about them knowing the truth about their son yet since I would have a hard time explaining why he was in critical condition. A condition that was in fact THEIR FAULT! Never had I felt so much anger towards both of them before, yet even now I still couldn't bring myself to be that angry with Maddie at least. Still, the fact of the matter was they still hurt my little badger and I wasn't about to let them get away with that without any consequences whether they'd hurt him knowingly or not...

Thanks to my diagnostic I ran of the properties of those fragments I extracted from Daniel's most serious wound caused by that strange ecto-inhibitor bullet, I managed to create an antidote which I administered right away in hopes of stabilizing his ghost-half enough to help with the healing process. And so far the results looked promising by the time I set everything up in his room to monitor his condition. His breathing had evened out for one thing but as a rather interesting side effect of the drug there was still the occasional shiver and Daniel would inhale a sharp gasp when his ghost sense went off prematurely. My guess was that this interesting phenomenon was happening in response to his ghost core being tapped into in the hopes of restarting his natural regenerative ghost powers.

Because I was deeply concerned about whether or not that bullet wound was healing now or not thanks to countering the effects of that horrible device, I was tempted to check his wounds one last time but then I thought better of it and simply left the poor boy be for now. He was in no condition to tell me anything and all I had to go off of now were my suspicions as to what happened and those words he muttered to me in his fits of delirium. And my gut instinct told me there was a terrible truth underlying those frightened words even if I didn't know what it was yet.

What Daniel said earlier before he was put under again, dare I say it, actually shook me quite deeply. What was he asking me not to do to prevent something terrible from happening _'again?'_ And just who was this _'him'_ the boy was referring to with such unadulterated terror of becoming? Exactly what manner of ghost could possibly instill so much fear in my little badger that he was begging me to flee from it? Me, Vlad Plasmius...? Was it just his fevered delusions making him say such things? Or was there a deeper meaning to his plea? I was inclined to think there was because Daniel -though he was clearly deathly afraid of whoever this _'him'_ was- actually asked me to run from this individual put myself well out of harms way without any regard to himself.

The thought made me smile hopefully, because it made me feel for a moment that Daniel actually did care for me as much as I do for him. Well actually no, I cared much too much for him that it bordered on obsession considering the fact that I attempted to clone him. And I wasn't blind, I knew that lately Daniel has been struggling with something and unfortunately that meant he was taking out more of his frustrations out on me. He was hiding it from his loved ones, whatever it was, so I knew that it was something extremely personal. It couldn't be about me either because Daniel had never held back when it came to telling me exactly what he thinks of me before.

This posed another question however, during our fights it almost seemed like Daniel was...upset with me and there was this longing in his eyes that he kept refusing to acknowledge so instead he buried it underneath his anger. Really, I was starting to worry that the boy was a bit TOO much like me when it came to that sort of thing. Yes I longed to be accepted by him and his mother and downright hated his father, but I knew better then to let those feelings take over. Admittedly though, more then a few times my own frustration with Daniel made me lose my _'cool'_ as the kids say but, confound it all why couldn't he put aside his hero complex for once to sit down and listen to reason?

Not only was I well off financially and a thousand times more brilliant then that oaf Jack Fenton could ever hope to be but on general principle I was so much better for Daniel then his own father. I understood him better then anyone because we shared an incredible gift that at the end of the day was also our curse, as it is irreversible. Receiving a ghostly infection is one thing, but actually having your body structure change to a molecular level to something as unorthodox as actually becoming half-ghost wasn't something you could just _'undo.'_ I have ways of short-circuiting our powers of course but that does not by any means remove them. They are far too ingrained into the structure of our DNA to be removed without severe and likely deadly consequences...

Speaking of _'deadly consequences,'_ when the call finally came from the Fenton couple it took all of my self restraint to remain calm and not betray any hint of the absolute fury and disgust I felt towards them knowing that they had attacked their own child to this extent. It was likely that they've hurt him before but I'm sure Daniel was always very careful to avoid such confrontations so that neither his parents nor himself would get too badly hurt. And since I can only assume Jasmine had not been there when this all occurred, I could scarcely imagine what was going through their eldest daughter's head right about all of this, unless she didn't know anything was wrong yet. Jasmine was a bright girl, and more importantly now that she knew how powerless she was against me she already knew not to cross me so I had nothing to fear from her. Well, aside from the remote possibility of her revealing the status of Daniel as a half-ghost if dear Jasmine thought it would somehow save her darling little brother.

I'm sure that would only be as a last resort because while she was the older sibling, Jasmine cared for her little brother more then anything and knew better then to betray his secret unless given no other choice. Sad to say but from what I've been able to deduce from my limited interactions with Jasmine she's actively taken on a more motherly role in Daniel's life because of how wrapped up their real parents are in their ghost work. Perhaps if I hadn't felt so betrayed by Jasmine since she purposefully tricked me once into letting her stay with me while she was supposedly upset with her brother and the rest of their family I might have considered including her in my plans of ripping everything away from Jack.

To be perfectly honest, as clever as she is I have little having interest in Jasmine as a daughter. I'm still rather devoted to the seemingly impossible task of taking in Daniel as my son so if she became part of the package too, well, I would have to make it abundantly clear that I would not be as forgiving the next time she went against my wishes. But enough about that, best to get back to the task at hand and not concern myself about the future when right now it was the present issue with Daniel that needed my immediate attention.

"Mayor Masters speaking," I answered cordially but tiredly as if I didn't suspect anything was wrong and was merely answering their call to be polite. "Ah Jack, so good to hear from you my good man. But why on earth are you calling at this hour? Is something the matter?" I let a hint of concern leak into my voice upon noticing how strained Jack sounded over the phone, as it was clear they were still driving. However some genuine concern filled my chest when I heard that my dear Maddie was fighting off tears, though I had to remind myself they were likely tears spilt for all the wrong reasons.

" _Vladdy we need your help! That...that ghost punk has taken over my son! We have to find him and you're the only one who can help us-! Hey!_ " Jack began when there was an audible rush of air when Maddie stole the phone and all but shrieked hysterically.

" _V-Vlad, I know we've had our differences but...I promise that if we need your help after all we'll ask for it then, but not now. This is all our fault so we'll take care of it ourselves. Jack, I TOLD you not to bother him with this until we know more about what's going on! He's still the mayor and Vlad won't understand that we had to do it! My baby boy...he's been overshadowed this whole time and we never-! Vlad, I thought we were shooting at Danny Phantom when he wandered into our house this evening but if my son is still being controlled by that monster then right now he's out there bleeding and it's all our fault-! I swear it was an accident! We didn't know!_ "

As she choked on another sob I froze. This was worse then I feared. Not only did they think their son was possessed, but they had shot him KNOWING that he was in their desperate attempt to _'scare'_ the ghost out of his body. Of course they wouldn't know that Danny Phantom and Danny Fenton were one in the same, at least not yet. That was a small relief though compared to the dread I felt knowing exactly what was going on in the Fenton family as of today.

Daniel...he was on the run from his own parents.

Taking a deep breath to calm my own shaken nerves, I calmly replied, "No Maddie, the fact of the matter is you clearly do need my help otherwise you would not have called. Jack did the right thing. Now, listen to me closely, you both are in no condition to be out there right now in this weather especially so I want you both to return home. And if Jasmine is there then you need to explain to her EXACTLY why her little brother has gone missing. This is quite serious and it wouldn't do well to lie to her."

" _But-"_ Maddie began once she regained the use of her cracked voice but I quickly cut her off.

"No buts. In the midst of such a crisis you cannot leave your other child at home wondering what is going on. If she has a phone, I suggest that call her immediately after we're finished speaking and tell her to go straight home if she is currently staying over at a friend's place or something to that effect," I moved over to sit on the edge of my bed, gathering my thoughts together as I continued with the charade. "You do not have to tell her everything now, just let her know there was an intruder and that her brother has gone missing. I will send a team of professionals out to search for him in the meantime with orders to capture Danny Phantom without harming him since he seems to have a human hostage. Maddie, please listen to me, this might only be a recent development in regards to this...ghost invasion into Daniel's body. As you already know most ghosts are driven by an obsession so perhaps the reason why Danny Phantom took over your son is that he...he misses his own family. Not all ghosts are evil my dear. Some are simply the lost souls of humans who have yet to let go of-"

I had surprised myself by trying to plead Daniel's case about his ghost half not being evil when Jack suddenly took the phone back from his wife and bellowed, _"Are you mad?! Look at all the trouble these ghosts have caused in our city!? You became our mayor in order to protect Danny and the rest of these kids from those monsters right? And yet here you are trying to take their side? Vladdy you know better then anyone just how dangerous ghosts are! They won't rest until they get what they want and if that spook wants my son he's going to have to get through me to get to him! Next time I'll shoot it right in the head and I'll make sure I don't miss!"_

 _"JACK!? How can you say that? That thing has our son in it's clutches!"_ Maddie shouted angrily. _"If you did that then you'd kill Danny too!"_

There was a pause before Jack shocked me when he added darkly, _"Maddie, I don't want to believe it either but...Danny might already be gone. What if he died during the accident and that...thing took over his body and fooled itself into thinking it was human too and some kind of wanna be ghost hero? It's a ghost parading as our son, plain and simple. Think about it, Danny didn't start acting strange or start struggling in school so much until he got out of the hospital and after that he became really standoffish and doesn't listen to us much anymore. It makes sense. Maybe the reason Danny changed so much is because...he was already gone. So the least we can do is-"_

"Jack...if you finish that sentence I WILL call the authorities," I threatened darkly in return, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

Coming from Jack, that tone made it abundantly clear to me how he felt about all this. Being the weak willed idiot he was Jack was already writing Daniel off as a lost cause, and I would have none of that. Even if I couldn't repair the broken bond between Danny and his family, I could at the very least talk them out of taking things too far in the name of saving their son by essentially killing an entire part of him off...

I could keep them from hunting him down.

They both fell silent after that, having taken my threat to heart which I was grateful for and took that as an invitation to continue and explain to them what needed to be done on their part. "Maddie is right about one thing Jack, first and foremost I am now the mayor of this town and if your son has indeed been abducted by Danny Phantom then it is my duty to take action and not yours. However, as your friend I also do not wish to cause a scene for either of us if someone were to find out about this so as I said before I will be sure to hire someone to look for Daniel indiscreetly that will know how to capture him without causing any further harm to his person. For the time being though I want you both to stay home and do what you can from there without letting anyone find out what's happened. But, for your own sake as well as your children I urge you NOT to act on your own again until you hear from me again because should anyone suspect that you shot your own son there is little I can do to protect either of you. Just think about what would happen if you were both arrested under the suspicions of attempted murder! Even though there is a ghost involved the police and the media will not be as easily inclined to believe that even a pair of professional ghost hunters as yourselves would be foolish enough to put the life of your own son at risk. They'll assume the worse of you. Because attacking a civilian under the pretense of their being possessed will not look good for either of you anyway, but having that person be your own son will be seen as a serious offense. So I implore you both not to force me to choose between my duty as mayor and my concern for your family as a friend. I do not wish to see your family fall apart because of this, so if there is any way for me to fix it then I shall do everything in my power to do so. Are we agreed?"

Knowing that I'd cut them off at every turn and was right, at last I heard them both reply in unison, _"Yes."_


	6. Only One Choice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 5: Only One Choice

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Danny's POV

 _Why is it so cold in here? Did I leave the window open?_ I thought as I shivered and then slowly opened my eyes.

My eyes fluttered, wanting to close again since I was just so tired but I forced them to stay open long enough for the room to come into focus. Wait, hold the phone, this wasn't my room. Since when are the walls painted lavender? And what was with that beeping?

Tilting my head to the side -which by the way was a lot harder then it sounds- I saw that I was hooked up to some kind of heart monitor, and I mean I'm no doctor but I'm pretty sure standard ones don't have a ghost energy reading feature. I blinked slowly as the gears started to turn in my groggy mind. I wasn't in my bedroom at home, my body felt stiff, cold, and everything hurt as if I'd been-!

Like a flash everything came rushing back to me and I bolted upright, instantly regretting it when a renewed wave of pain exploded in my shoulder. Then I stifled a cry of pain and fell over onto my side, gritting my teeth and clutching it tightly as if doing that would dull the pain shooting through it. I don't know which was worse though. The pain in my battered body or the pain in my heart when my new reality sunk in. My parents...more specifically my dad shot me. I was hurt bad because of it and ran away by jumping out my bedroom window and then while I was flying above Amity Park looking for a place to hide I was struck by lighting during that last storm. Seriously how was I not dead right now?

Not two seconds later after my heart rate skyrocketed with my rising panic did someone even worse then my parents burst through the door. Or rather, phased in instead. Our eyes locked for a moment, too stunned to say anything to each other, and I shut them tightly to block the sight of him and everything else out. Praying that I could go back to that dreamless sleep I was in before where nothing could hurt me, nothing else mattered. This couldn't be happening! I-I thought maybe it was all just a nightmare as usual and I'd wake up and everything would be fine. But here I was, under my arch enemy's roof when this was the LAST place on earth I wanted to be.

Too bad I was too busy hugging my shoulder and side to cover my ears when Vlad started talking to me because hearing his voice only made things worse. "Are you alright dear boy? I heard the monitor go off and- Daniel?"

It was like my brain only registered that I was in danger and needed to get away so I instinctively changed into my ghost-form and phased off the small device on my finger from the heart monitor, scrambling to my feet and bolting out of the nearest wall. At least that was my intention anyway. Since I didn't have any strength in my legs I immediately collapsed, pulling the blankets down with me as I shivered violently again and unable to hold onto my ghost-form I turned human again.

Vlad rushed over to help but I crawled away from him and pressed my back against the nearest wall, slapping his hand away from me before grabbing my throbbing shoulder again and winced. I couldn't believe it. Everything that I thought was just a dream was my reality. And somehow I'd ended up at Vlad's-!

"Vlad, where am I!?" I suddenly blurted out, unsure of which nightmare I was trapped in right now. The one where my family and friends were dead, or the one where my parents were hunting down both sides of me.

With a sigh, Vlad eased himself into a kneeling position on one knee, resting one arm over it as the other hesitantly reached for my good shoulder to reassure me as he calmly explained. "Calm down. We're at my mansion in Amity Park. Because no I didn't whisk you away to the Rockies or to my castle in Wisconsin while you were unconscious this time so you'll be happy to know that we're still stuck in this pathetic little excuse of a town of yours that I now govern. You gave me quite the scare little badger, falling out of the sky like that over my house in human form. I feared you had finally met your match with some new ghost I was going to have to teach a lesson to on your behalf," Before I could open my mouth to ask anything else, he gave my shoulder a gentle squeeze and when I looked into his eyes I saw only sadness and concern which confused me more then anything else. Then he continued with the same calm yet firm tone, "Daniel, this might come as a surprise to you but you nearly died last night. I don't know what brought you to me but we are extremely lucky that it did otherwise...I would have end up becoming the only half-ghost hybrid once again. I understand that you are confused right now and dare I say still feverish from the looks of it so you need to rest or your condition will worsen."

Tearing my gaze away from his to stare blankly at the floor I asked, "Do you...know what happened to me?"

Of course Vlad knew exactly what I meant by that and judging by the pause before he replied he was deciding on whether it was a good idea to tell me or not. But seriously I just wanted to get the bad news out of the way so I could stop freaking out about not knowing what was going on or how much he knew! Because if he knew the whole story then I was screwed. Vlad would use this as an excuse not to let me go home or anywhere else while my parents were hunting me down, or at least hunting my ghost-half down with something much worse in mind then just capturing him now that they probably thought Danny Phantom was hijacking my body...

When Vlad finally did answer me, I wasn't sure whether to feel pissed or relieved when he said, "I'm afraid I don't little badger, I was actually hoping you could tell me."

The sickeningly sweet tone of his voice suddenly set me off and before I knew I snarled, "You liar..."

"I beg your pardon?" Vlad blinked in disbelief before he started getting angry and sneered, "Ah I see. So you think me so heartless that I would use even this near-death experience against you somehow? Foolish boy, if I wanted you dead I wouldn't have..." trailing off when he noticed the tears spilling over my cheeks I stiffened but didn't see it when his expression softened and only felt it when he ran his thumb over my cheek to wipe some of them away.

"W-what are you...?" I asked quietly, still too scared to look at his face because somehow I knew that the moment I did I would break down and reach for the only source of comfort I had, which was him. But I refused, I couldn't be weak in front of him of all people. Because if anyone was going to take advantage of it, Vlad was.

Taking a deep breath, Vlad decided to tell me the truth to placate me and shrugged, "Alright, you caught me. I still don't know the specifics yet but after I treated your wounds I received a rather disturbing call from your parents-" I flinched, feeling myself start to quiver despite my best efforts not to. Noticing my raising anxiety Vlad shifted so he was sitting next to me on the floor, one arm wrapped around my good shoulder as he gently pressed me up against his broad chest and continued,"-they were out of their minds with worry once they realized that shooting Danny Phantom had hurt their son Danny Fenton as well, they think he's overshadowing you dear boy. That's almost worse then them knowing the truth about you. At any rate, for now at least I've convinced them to cease looking for the ghost boy so that they can take care of your sister and explain to her that you've gone missing. And I told them I would take it upon myself as mayor to personally find Danny Phantom and make sure their son is safe. Well fortunately, you found me first so there's that taken care of since _'I'_ know you are safe. We may fight and argue more then I care to admit over the most foolish things but, I have never once wished you dead Daniel. Nor will I allow such an awful thing to happen to you without lifting a hand to help. Because despite what I told you once before, you are irreplaceable to me and I've been...too hard on you lately. I realize that now..."

After that I really wanted to open my eyes and look at him but...they were so heavy. And Vlad, he was so warm. He felt so safe. I couldn't tell you why but maybe it's because of what I saw at the end of my dream before the darkness swallowed everything in it. The way the future Vlad looked at me with so much love and disbelief as he reached out to touch my ghostly face and asked me how it was possible that part of me was still there. I knew then without a doubt that that Vlad really did care about me and I couldn't help but smile tearfully back at him. Just knowing that there was someone who saw me as a person too and cared about all the sides of me was more then I could have ever hoped for. Especially from a father figure, like Vlad was in that timeline the way he always wanted to be. Yet, sadly, in trying to save me, he destroyed me with a single mistake too. A choice that Vlad regretted that above everything else he'd ever done in his life. I could see it in his eyes. And for once what was reflected inside of them was raw and completely honest.

Who knows, maybe I was still just too drowsy from the sleeping gas -which by the way I didn't know Vlad made me breathe in anyway since I'd been so out of it when he put me under- or maybe it was because of my fever but, I didn't pull away from him again this time. I didn't want to. For now I felt safe here with Vlad and I honestly can't even remember the last time I felt safe in my own home. Not that I had a home anymore, because I knew that either way I couldn't stay with Vlad. It was too dangerous for both of us. Dangerous because the last time we were together like this...the last time I felt this broken was in the alternate future when I lost everything I cared about because of one mistake then too. And it didn't just cost me my life, it had cost Vlad everything else along with the safety of both worlds when my evil self was born because of us.

I've never felt so hopeless. I may be a hero, but I'm also only fourteen. I don't have all the answers or know what to do all the time! Why wasn't I allowed to make a few lousy mistakes without them being blown out of proportion?! Like whenever I was even five minutes late for curfew my parents would ground me for a week, or only the weekend if I was lucky. I knew from the start that being a hero wasn't going to be all sunshine and rainbows but why did one, just ONE mistake have to cost me everything?! Why did it have to cost me my family and friends? My whole life...?

Sure they weren't dead this time, but it's not like I could go stay with Sam or Tucker right now. Their parents would rat me out before I could even blink as soon as they saw me, and besides I didn't want to feel scared of getting caught while under their roofs either. Heck I couldn't even remotely consider asking Valerie for help as a last resort because she already wanted to waste my ghost-half just as much as my parents! I could see it now in my head, a trio of ghost hunters chasing me with their ecto-guns while trying to put enough holes in me to make me into ecto-swiss cheese!

At the end of the day, Vlad was really all I had unless I wanted to just pick a random direction and start living on the streets like some hobo. Which frankly I wasn't above doing if I thought for one second Vlad was going to do something worse then clone and torture me like that one time.

I finally managed to open my eyes just enough to stare down at my bandaged hands and I quietly asked no one in particular, "What am I supposed to do...?"

Jerking in surprise since I totally forgot Vlad was sitting on the floor too trying to console me, he pulled me closer and replied confidently, "For the time being, you are to do absolutely nothing but get better little badger. I'll take care of the rest. And if you cannot think of my actions as a genuine act of kindness then...consider this a temporary truce. You see, as I said before I don't want you to die or be captured any more then you do. Right now you are in dire need a safe place to stay and recover your strength without your parents finding you and I am more then willing to provide that for you. In return for giving you shelter from them however, I want you to tell me everything you know about that heinous new weapon they used on you so that I can find a better way to defend us both against it in the future. I hate to say it but that's actually what nearly killed you Daniel, the shrapnel from that ecto-inhibitor bullet was preventing your wound from healing with your ghost powers since it was simultaneously blocking those abilities while inflicting an almost paralyzing amount of pain from those shards. The fact that you were able to escape at all, let alone move, astounds me. It was designed to completely incapacitate you so either you're much tougher then I give you credit for or it was ironically your human half that saved you by diluting the effects. "

"It...it felt like when I first got my powers when I messed with my parents ghost portal..." I found myself confessing airily, not even thinking about the fact that I was telling this to Vlad of all people since I slipped back into a feverish daze. I mean yeah I told Tucker and Sam that the accident really hurt but they didn't even know the half of it because I didn't want them to feel guilty if I told them how it really felt. "I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't escape from the agony ripping through my entire body because it was everywhere, inside and out. I couldn't even see the button to turn it off and save myself. I seriously thought that I was going to die that day," a hollow laugh escaped my lips as I scoffed, "I wonder sometimes if a part of me actually did die and that's why we have two forms. If the part of us that died is the ghost form that we change into, I wonder if it's because we're not totally dead that we can change back to being human again. All I know is that ever since then...things have never been the same between me and my parents."

Looking down at me in shock, Vlad's voice quivered in horror as he tightly gripped my good shoulder and gaped, "You mean to tell me that you were standing INSIDE of the Fenton Ghost Portal when it turned on?"

Realizing what I just said I snapped out of my daze long enough to try pulling away from him because despite how warm and welcoming his arms were this was still Vlad. I'd already told him too much and right now all I wanted to do was go back to sleep and not think about anything. That's one thing we could agree on at least. I was already taking a big risk even staying here since my plan was to find somewhere to hide that my parents could never think of looking, but in the shape I was in I wouldn't be able to defend myself against them if they showed up again or even the freaking Box Ghost and I knew it...so did Vlad.

I'll admit it, I did need help from someone, and I figured if Vlad really meant what he said I could at least give him a chance despite everything he's done. Especially since honestly, lately Vlad hasn't done much of anything THAT bad to me or my dad. For the most part we just fight whenever we cross paths and sling insults at each other. But that was about it since the whole Infimap thing.

I mean I wasn't about to get all buddy buddy with him even though he saved my life, but Vlad said he was willing to help me and I needed it now more then ever so...what other choice did I have? While the future Vlad might be a good guy that gave me hope that the present one could change too, I knew that the one I was with right now was still the same as ever. I couldn't let my guard down, not again. Because if I did then it would destroy what little hope I had left that things could go back to normal again. Even if I was fooling myself, anything was better then admitting that in this timeline...I've lost everything and gained nothing.

Oh by the way, I did mention how I _'tried'_ to pull away from Vlad right? We were sitting on the floor still and when I tried to pull away Vlad held me tighter, almost protectively, and only loosened his grip when I winced since my bad shoulder was pressed close against him. He was about to apologize and ask if I was doing alright when -and I have no idea why this happened so suddenly- my eyes slid closed again and all of the strength I had just left me and my head rolled onto his shoulder and my hands slid out of my lap. I probably must've fainted from the fever again, I dunno. But one thing was for sure, even if I wanted to say no to his offer I couldn't, not like this, because it was just like I told the Vlad in my dream-

He was all I had left.


	7. If Given A Chance

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 6: If Given A Chance

(Chapter inspired by Promise Of A Lifetime by Kutless)

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Vlad's POV

I knew Daniel was going to be confused when he awoke and very much on edge so things went about as well as I expected them to. However a few things happened which I did not anticipate; such as Daniel actually having enough strength to transform at all, even if he was unable to hold it for very long. That, and in his fevered state Daniel told me something I doubt he ever would have normally. And hearing it made me realize just how little I knew about him personally. For instance, what were his dreams for the future outside of ghost hunting? His dreams and aspirations? His doubts? And most importantly, what were his fears aside from the obvious ones...?

It truly pained me to see Daniel like that, quivering in pain, with his usually clear blue eyes staring up at me with unadulterated terror as he cornered himself in a feeble effort to escape. Not that Daniel was my prisoner, this time it was more that I wasn't about to let him go wandering off in his condition even if I had to resort to desperate measures such as sedating him again. Because as of right now I couldn't risk shorting out his ghost powers with the Plasmius Maximus since Daniel still needed them to help heal his wounds. Although when he foolishly attempted to fly off I was sorely tempted to do just that since his behavior bordered on hysteria and I didn't want him hurting himself like he almost did a few hours earlier.

In fact for a moment I honestly wondered if Daniel was hallucinating due to his abnormally high fever and saw me as this mysterious _'him.'_ I stood corrected though when Daniel called me by name and fearfully demanded to know where he was. There was something about the way he said it that made me suspect Daniel was afraid of being somewhere oddly specific. Of course, dismissing that notion for now I calmly allayed him of that fear by explaining we were still in Amity Park, for now at least...

How long that would remain true, I couldn't say because I may have to move him before too long to a more secure location just in case Daniel's parents or his two little friends come sniffing about. As for the latter, considering that they knew Daniel's secret those two were unlikely to tell them where he was even if they did figure out he was with me because it would cause a problem for him. Then again they were bound to find out soon anyway once Jasmine told them since her parents had enlisted my aid in finding their son.

Honestly I was more concerned about those three actually trying to _'rescue'_ Daniel from me once they discovered he was already here which in retrospect would place him in even greater danger of being discovered by his parents. I had a few different options, none of which I cared for but they were necessary to ensure that there weren't any complications while Daniel was recovering. It was a simple matter of making them realize that things were better this way and that really...what could they possibly do to help him with this?

Daniel's older sister was still a junior in high school herself whereas Tucker Folley and Samantha Manson were both freshmen, there was no way for either of them to hide Daniel indefinitely unless he started living in some hovel which I would NOT allow. We had our differences but I wasn't so heartless that I could bear the idea of my little badger living on the streets. Aside from myself there were no proper adult figures in his life who could help him. And even if there were they wouldn't be equipped to provide the care Daniel needed because he was no longer entirely human but actually a half-ghost hybrid...

Speaking of which I would have to correct Daniel's earlier assumption that we are both half dead. True, we are half-ghost but not in that sense. It's more that our DNA was infused with all of the standard traits of a ghost to a molecular level. For while our ghost signatures were unique because of our hybrid status there are hardly any distinguishable differences aside from that from any other ghost and the fact that we can change forms at will into one that primarily uses ecto-energy and not just human sustenance to fuel our bodies. To put it simply, our bodies are infused with and self-generate their own ecto-energy like any other ghost. And that energy included our body's ability to heal both our human and ghost forms using that energy to quicken the process. But this time, Daniel wasn't injured by any normal weapon or even ghost energy, he'd been shot by his parents with a weapon designed to incapacitate a FULL ghost so even with his ghost regenerative powers restored it would be some time before he healed fully.

Especially with that terrible fever weakening him.

My heart skipped a beat when while we were talking Daniel fell silent before answering my question about his accident and passed out in my arms. He was breathing heavily again, clearly overwhelmed so I carefully picked him back up and tucked Daniel into bed again, re-hooking him up to the heart monitor and then giving him another dose of morphine for the pain. Looking down at his pale feverish face a renewed sense of urgency returned and I knew that time was of the essence.

If I was going to make a decision it had to be now, for his sake...

* * *

Once it was a more reasonable hour to make the calls I needed to I canceled all of my mayoral appointments for the rest of the week to take care of something of a personal nature -which was ironically the truth- and after entrusting the day to day matters to my secretary, doing the same with my own businesses, I returned my attention to personally taking care of Daniel. I was worried because since our brief discussion early this morning he had yet to regain consciousness again. What's worse is that his fever was still burning dangerously high as well. It had to be this high because of more then just his infected injury; clearly part of his poor condition was being caused by stress and there was only so much I could do to heal his body when his mind was in turmoil.

It was to be expected though due to the fact that not only had Daniel been betrayed by and was forced to flee from his own parents, but now he was in the care of someone Daniel likely still saw as someone untrustworthy and dare I say dangerous. I've given him no reason to think otherwise which was my own fault. I could only hope that by telling him the truth and being more gentle with him that Daniel would warm up to the idea of me actually wanting to help him this time, no strings attached.

Speaking of which, my darling cat Maddie managed to sneak past me while I was replacing the cold water I was using to keep Daniel cool and wipe off the sweat and apparently she decided to adopt him and was currently curled up on his chest, purring. I was tempted to remove her when Daniel unconsciously lifted his arm again and reached for her then rested a hand over the welcome source of warmth over his heart and that simple action, along with feeling the vibration of her purring, seemed to sooth him if only a little so his body began to relax again. Well, if she wasn't doing any harm I suppose it was alright to let her stay. In fact I praised Maddie for being such a good girl and told her I'd give her some of her favorite wet food later as a reward, to which she only purred louder in response and leaned into my hand before I pulled away to move onto the next task.

Since he couldn't eat and I didn't want to resort to a feeding tube unless Daniel's condition resulted in him lapsing into a temporary coma I added another iv with nutrients, both ghostly and human in the hopes of it helping him fight off this infection. I of course had given him another dose of the antidote as well but the effects of that metal were still extremely potent and it could only do so much until I knew more. I was starting to think that Daniel actually didn't know much about the weapon they used on him because if he had, surely Daniel would have tried harder to dodge it. Then again, Daniel was very sleep deprived anyway the last time we fought so his reaction time would have been slow even if he did know...

Either way, that condition I placed on helping him through was really just an excuse. This situation was the most serious one Daniel had been involved with in awhile and I had nothing to gain from leaving him to his fate. On the contrary, if I lost him because his parents were so close-minded about ghosts that they accidentally killed their son, I would very likely take that final step over the line that I've been avoiding since I met Daniel because I would lose any chance of him coming to me willingly if I had killed his father. After all, there were plenty of other ways to destroy a person, reputation included, just like I sorely wished Daniel would do to stop that jock at school from bullying him.

Daniel was smarter then anyone gave him credit for, I've seen it for myself through our many battles. Admittedly there were some where I purposefully held back so as not to hurt him too badly but there were a few times when Daniel had truly defeated me by using his powers in ways I never could have dreamed of. He had so much potential and it was being wasted and ignored by the two people who should have been helping it flourish, meaning his parents. They were always praising Jasmine yet all but ignored Daniel unless he did something wrong which frankly was unfair to him.

Neither of them understood how hard it was to be a teenager in this day and age and even I sometimes cannot fathom it, though I've had similar experiences, they weren't the SAME ones. All three of us, Jack, Maddie, and myself were born to a different generation of people that grew up with a different set of standards. It was foolish to expect that the struggles Daniel had to contend with were the same when they barely even knew what he was doing at school half the time aside from when he was being unjustly punished due to a ghost attack or being framed by that jock, Dash Baxter...

Out of curiosity I did a background check on him once before and of course his grades were barely passing too just like Daniel's yet clearly their peers chose to ignore it because he was a football star at their school so there wasn't a single instance of detention on HIS personal record. That at least was a cliché that had yet to change in the social pyramid, that cheerleaders and jocks were always at the very top and the popularity ratings dropped from there. My guess was that poor Daniel wasn't even on the pyramid since his parents were known ghost hunters which labeled him an outcast even from those in the bottom-most tier.

Regardless, Daniel's schooling was the least of my concerns since his parents were bound to inform the principle and the vice principle that he was missing at least if nothing else. It was only the first day so perhaps they might not tell them at all and tell them there was a family emergency and left it at that for now so as not to cause a scene. I was confident that Maddie at least would take charge and do what needed to be done until I _'found'_ their son. After all, even if I wasn't the mayor I had more then enough resources to do so.

For now it was Daniel's health I was most concerned with.

"I really hope I don't have to threaten you again to get you to wake up little badger," I said quietly as I replaced the damp cloth on his brow after dabbing his face with it.

My hand shook slightly when I pulled it away from his face and recalled what Daniel told me about his accident that I NEVER would have guessed. I just assumed the Fenton Ghost Portal was more stable then the proto-portal that resulted in my mutation. I could remember the pain I felt like it only happened yesterday but...what Daniel described was far worse. My deterioration had been slow, gradual, the pain ripping through me in random fluctuations when my powers flared. But most of the pain I felt was due to the ghostly infection on my face because of the ecto-acne. With Daniel, he felt the pain all at once in a single horrifying instant.

It wasn't just one part of his body that was effected with the initial blast, Daniel felt it everywhere, and it made me sick to my stomach to think that his parents had exposed their children to something so dangerous. Honestly, why didn't they keep their laboratory locked like I did? It was such a simple solution and could have spared Daniel so much suffering. Then again, if that hadn't happened I never would have met Daniel the way I did and discovered to my delight that I was no longer alone in the world. There was another like me that a part of me wishes could have blamed his parents for the accident so he would've been more willing to take me up on my offer that day to join me. Yet, Daniel wouldn't have been the same boy I've come to care for if he was as resentful as I was. Even seeing him resentful towards me made me uneasy and it wasn't what I wanted for him. All I wanted was him by my side, safe, free to be himself, and most of all loved and appreciated in a way that his parents clearly are incapable of even now.

And yes, sadly, that includes my beloved Maddie...

"Oh Daniel," I sighed, sitting on the edge of the bed as I gently cupped his too-warm cheek and lamented, "Why didn't you come to me sooner? If I had known things were so hard I wouldn't have made them harder then they already were. Through every battle I was merely testing you, teaching you, urging you to improve to match me yet it was never my intention to push you beyond your limits. Dear boy I do know and understand that you're only fourteen. No one your age should have to shoulder the burden of keeping an entire town safe almost by yourself when you weren't even safe under your own roof. It's too much to expect of one so young, someone so...special. You deserve better, and I am willing to give you that and more if only you would choose to stay here with me. I could become your new family Daniel, a better one, I can provide everything you need or could ever want. All I ask is that you give me that chance..."


	8. Desperate Measures

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 7: Desperate Measures

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Vlad's POV

I was hesitant to leave Daniel alone for too long in case something happened so I created a duplicate to keep an eye on him while I brewed some much needed coffee. Between changing his bandages, giving him the next dose of anti-inflammatory medicine, nutrients, and the antidote to the metal's effects, then cooling him down every few hours, taking care of Daniel was taking it's toll on me. Don't get me wrong, I had stamina to spare but the exhaustion was mostly mental from making the necessary arrangements to placate his parents into thinking I was sending my team of experts out in search of their son and the ghost boy supposedly haunting their precious child...

Because I knew that if I didn't do anything, eventually even Jack would catch on and they would start their own search once again. Also, if Danny ever managed to get out somehow and was spotted by someone, loyal fan of his or no, his parents would be the first on the scene unless the Guys in White got there first. And I wasn't about to use them to search for Daniel because for one thing, I didn't want them any more deeply involved with the Fenton family then they already were, and secondly even their idiocy was smarter then Jack's on his best day and I knew with certainty that they wouldn't stop at merely capturing Danny Phantom either even if he was holding his own human half hostage.

If they captured him, in the name of a _'greater good'_ they'd quarantine him, claiming the nature of his condition of being possessed for so long was a matter of national security and the government would perform far more awful experiments on him then his parents. And very likely the government would uncover the truth about him being a hybrid which could prove disastrous for us both. So needless to say my _'ghost expert'_ was going to be someone working under the radar or some-such to keep them off my back and in order to maintain an air of the utmost secrecy. After all, I was the mayor of their town and had a reason to keep this a secret from the public just as much if not more then they did.

Part of the reason for that was...I honestly didn't want to let him go.

Daniel, for once in his life needed me more then he cared to admit and it frightened him for some reason. Was I really so untrustworthy? Well, given my track record of lying to his face I suppose so, but that didn't explain why Daniel seemed absolutely petrified with the idea of staying here with me. Daniel thought I hadn't noticed the way he tensed up every time it seemed like he was about to let go and accept comfort from me. He was afraid to accept it, assuming I would mistake it as him trusting me with his most valuable possession. His life. Yet, he knew he had no choice and his voice...it sounded so lost and hopeless when Daniel asked what he should do about all of this. And what I told him was true, I just wanted him to get better so we could move forward from there.

With a sigh, I turned, coffee in hand when I felt my heart clench in fear when I heard Daniel unleash a battle cry and he obliterated my duplicate with a single blow...

"For the love of-!" I snarled, haphazardly tossing my coffee mug aside with a loud clatter and while still in human form I teleported back to Daniel's bedroom where he was staring wide-eyed at the scorch mark where the duplicate once stood, a fine green mist still curling off of his fingertips. His gaze was unfocused and his eyes still glazed with fever so I very carefully raised my voice, reaching for my energy in case I needed to shield myself and called, "Now that is quite enough young man. I know you're upset about not feeling well right now but there was no need to take it out on me. Well, something that looked like me anyway."

His head snapped to face me, his shoulders tense and ready to fight when just as suddenly they fell and Daniel stared at me in confusion, blinking a few times as his vision cleared and I came back into focus. "V-Vlad?"

"In the flesh dear boy," I smirked, lowering my arm and resting both behind my back.

Still hesitant and deeply troubled, he ran his fingers through his raven hair and asked me sheepishly, "I must've passed out while we were talking. Well that's embarrassing. How long have I been out?"

Settling into the armchair beside his bed once more I replied cordially, "Roughly three to four hours at most. I took the liberty of changing your bandages while you were asleep since you had indeed reopened the wound due to your reckless act of changing forms while your regenerative powers are still not at full capacity yet. How're you feeling? Hungry? Thirsty?"

Shaking his head, Daniel sighed and fell back onto the pillows again as he stared idly at the roof instead of looking at me as he spoke a bit hoarsely, "Try confused. Ok and maybe kinda thirsty too. Do you have any water bottles in the fridge or something?"

With a sigh he moved to get up but I stopped him with a hand gesture and offered, "It's alright, I can get it for you. Wait just a moment."

"Vlad, really I'm fine..." Daniel frowned, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and reaching over to pull off the device on his finger when his eyes ran further up his arm and he noticed the IV tubes. "Oh..."

A triumphant smiled curled on my lips when Daniel realized he was trapped if only by the IV's when he abruptly phased them right out of his arm and stood up anyway, swaying a bit from having moved a little too fast, then he took a step towards the door. My own expression morphed into a frown and I stood from my chair, effectively blocking his path. In response Daniel glared at me and tried to walk past but I merely side stepped in front of him once more. I was familiar with this dance, and I was not about to let him take the lead when he was still very much unwell.

"Daniel, please do not make me force you to go back to bed. Can't we be civil about this? If you're concerned about me drugging you I'll leave the bottle sealed but really, you do realize I could have been doing the exact same thing with the IV tubes, don't you?" I rolled my eyes, really not in the mood to deal with his stubbornness. "Then again, how can I expect you to be civil since I just felt you reduce my duplicate to nothing mere moments ago?"

He winced, knowing I was right about that at least but refused to admit it as he replied, "Well he was kinda hovering over me like a creeper and when I woke up seeing a pair of red eyes in my face I freaked out ok? Especially since my ghost sense didn't go off and I thought you were sneaking up on me, or I guess even if it did I was too cold to notice it. You wanna be civil Vlad? Then just show me where the darn fridge is so I can get a drink then go back to sleep...it's..." Daniel trailed off, his voice slurring as he unwillingly fell forward and I easily caught the silly boy. How could Daniel possibly think he could make it to the other end of this room let alone back downstairs to the kitchen like this? He could barely stay standing on his own two feet!

Easing him back down on the bed in a sitting position, I sighed and rested a hand on each of his shoulders and ordered firmly, "Daniel, look at me. You are in no condition to be walking right now. What part of you almost DIED do you fail to understand? This is serious, and you need to rest because your fever-"

"I know I have a fever already Vlad, I can tell because I feel like absolute crap alright? I don't need you to spell it out for me!" He snapped, his eyes flashing green before he gasped and reluctantly muttered as he put his face in his hands and hunched over, "I'm sorry...my head is killing me and I-"

With a heavy sigh of my own I let go of his shoulders said with a slightly bitter edge to my voice, "Daniel, if this is going to work at all I need you to trust me. If you cannot even trust me to give you a glass of water without doing something to it this is never going to work. What else can I do to convince you I mean you no harm this time...?"

Finally looking up at me with a bewildered yet guarded expression, Daniel bit his lip before looking away from me, his shoulders dropping in defeat. "Why're you even doing this Vlad? Just...give it to me straight for once in your life. When I pulled those pranks on you before and you came all the way here to get back at me, things got so messed up and worse then they've ever been for me because of you and then..." as if recalling an unwanted memory he suddenly gripped his head and grimaced as he curled in on himself, muttering, "You shot me. No, stop it! Stop thinking about it! That was from before all this and I took that blast on purpose to stop you from ruining my life as both Fenton and Phantom. But this time, it was...my dad. He shot me. By choice. I don't get it! Why is my head so messed up right now? Why can't I stop thinking about every time I've ever been shot at and thinking I see his face? Dad...why'd you have to do it...? Why did one mistake have to cost me everything all over again? Why did it have to send me crawling to the guy who destroys everything he touches? Even...me?"

His shoulders shook again in dry sobs and I knew Daniel had slipped into a state of fevered delirium again, but his words confused me even more then before. Did he really think I was doing to...? Shaking my head I pulled him out of his curled position and wrapped my arms around him, rubbing small gentle circles on his back as I soothed, "Shh, it's alright Daniel. I know it might feel that way to you even now but I can assure you that I don't want to hurt you anymore, in fact, I never really did. You just vexed me to no end and before I knew it I'd turned you into something you weren't and it is really starting to bother me more then I care to admit. Heh, I guess you were paying attention to all of my _'lessons'_ this whole time, including the ones I never meant to teach about bracing yourself for the inevitable betrayal of someone whom you trust. I didn't want this for you! Not this. This right here is exactly why I stopped. Daniel, the truth of the matter is I only stopped trying to kill your father because I didn't want to lose YOU. But now...that's all I want to do to the man who hurt my little badger!" I hissed darkly, my eyes flashing red and the lights around us began flickering, "I want to kill him, not because I hate him from what he did before, but now because of what he did to you that is so much worse. If only you knew about the terrible inhuman things he almost said over the phone about you. Knowing what he almost said only makes me hate him more for not realizing who he was willing to give up on oh so easily! That idiot has NO idea how lucky he is to have a wonderful son like you Daniel, and yet he almost said he was willing to-!"

"No! No let go of me!" Daniel suddenly shouted fearfully, writhing in my arms as if my touch was burning him. "I-I'm not going to turn into you! You can't make me! I promised them! I WILL NEVER BECOME LIKE YOU!"

Stunned by his declaration I did let go which was a very VERY foolish thing to do. For that exact moment, Daniel repeated his earlier action only this time because of the adrenaline coursing through his veins due to the elevated and almost primal fear that was consuming his every nerve he transformed and shot through the roof at an impossibly high speed. I barely had a second to wrap my mind around the fact that Daniel had just escaped before I called out his name and teleported outside in the hope of cutting him off before anyone noticed him. It was broad daylight outside! And if one of his enemies or worse, his parents saw him then-!

Whirling around when I sensed his ghost signature not too far from there, I shot towards it and called out his name in fearful desperation, "DANIEL NO! You're not strong enough to transform yet! Don't make me do this!"

Glancing back over his shoulder as I closed in on him, Daniel gasped and exclaimed, "No! Get away from me!"

Teleporting again directly in front of him to cut him off I snatched him by the wrist and with my other fist, as much as it pained me to do so, I punched him in the gut and successfully knocked the wind out of him. There was no time for him to comprehend what was happening before Daniel lost consciousness again and I pulled his limp form into my arms so he wouldn't fall to the ground. I should have known better! Of course he would try to run again! Why should I have expected the boy to be rational for once in his life?!

Well fine, he wanted me to be the villain? Then what better way to be one then to force my will on him as usual? Because confound it all Daniel was going to get better even if I had to keep him sedated for the next SEVERAL weeks to get this damnable fever to finally go down! Daniel was stronger then this, I knew it, and so did he! All I needed to do was remind him of who he was, a hero. And isn't a hero's job to prove the villain wrong...?


	9. No Escaping Reality

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/15/2018):** I really hate daylight savings time. It keeps messing up my post dates even though the previous chapter was posted at 4am today because I couldn't sleep and was on a roll. Anyways, there's some good news I'd like to share because seriously, the amount of attention this new story is getting is staggering! Yesterday, you guys will be happy to know that the view count for this story overall hit 1,000 and that's NEVER happened to one of my stories before, at least not in such a short amount of time! Even the number of reviews and follows I got the first day this story was even up shocked me _(btw, while I still like the view count, reviews are even better motivation for me to keep writing so even if it's short and sweet keep 'em coming!)_ At any rate, I know I said updates will start getting slower, and I'm sure they will, but for now I'll try to keep the creativity flowing since I'm loving the attention and am happy you're enjoying this chaotic mess! Now without further ado enjoy the latest chapter!

 **P.S.** Just a forewarning there are very slight suicidal thoughts in this chapter but it doesn't last long and it's only because poor Danny is scared of destroying his loved ones and even Vlad and the world if he doesn't prevent himself from falling into the same trap of losing all hope and throwing his humanity away.

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Chapter 8: No Escaping Reality

(Chapter inspired by Monster by Skillet)

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Danny's POV

I lied. Not entirely but hopefully enough to fool Vlad. I couldn't let him know the truth, not about any of it. If he knew...then even Vlad would have every right to call me a monster...

It's true that I freaked when I saw his duplicate hovering over me while I was tossing and turning in my sleep because of the nightmares I've been having but, what made it worse was that he kept flickering like a broken television and I saw...Dan instead. His red eyes bore into mine, his toothy smile mocking me, so as a result in a wave of anger and fear I roared and blasted a huge crater in his chest where his heart should've been. I was still riding high from the rush of power I'd just used when Vlad himself reappeared, his all too familiar voice ringing in my ears even though it sounded distant and faint compared to the pounding in my chest as my heart raced.

Realizing what I'd just done when I mistook Vlad's duplicate for Dan, secretly horrified by the fact that I could've killed the real one my mistake, I hesitantly asked him how long I was asleep to change the subject as quickly as possible so he didn't try probing me for a better reason why I just tried to waste him.

After that Vlad started acting really weird, as in creepily nice to me and I didn't like it. It was almost worse then him being a total jerk as usual. I wish he could've acted, I dunno, normal for once. At least his definition of normal. But then I gave up on that idea since this was Vlad we were talking about and told him the truth, I was confused because of how understanding and nice he was acting and it was really confusing me. I happened to be pretty thirsty too so I decided that outweighed my hunger right now.

Once I told him that Vlad offered to go get me a drink but I wasn't that helpless and thought I could get it myself. How was I supposed to know he'd hooked me up to even more hospital junk? He thought he had me beat when I noticed the IV's when I outsmarted him by directly phasing them out of my arm, figured it'd be less painful then pulling them out and I was right. I almost smirked myself since the disbelieving look on his face was priceless.

With some effort, after that I got up on my feet and holy crap did my legs feel weak. I wasn't about to let Vlad know that though so mentally bracing myself I took a step forward when Vlad decided to be cute and block me off. I shot him an annoyed glare because clearly he didn't notice I wasn't entirely helpless anymore so I tried to go past him again, only for him to get in my way again. God what was his problem?!

As if answering my silent question Vlad went off about me being worried about him drugging me or something -which honestly I hadn't even considered so great, now to add that to my list of concerns- when really I just didn't want him treating me like a baby just because I was hurt and still feeling pretty sick. I winced when my shoulder throbbed in protest from when I tried shouldering past him a second ago, and hoping I could get him to back off and clear up the misunderstanding about why I attacked it I told him what happened with his stupid duplicate. Like I said, at least half of that was true. I was still pretty out of it when I woke up and it figures his duplicate was in ghost form and not disguised as a human so it was easier for my muddled mind to confuse him for my evil self...

I was pissed when he accused me of not being _'civil'_ so I started telling him straight up that I just wanted to get a drink then go back to bed because it was the only escape I had -or thought I had anyway- from him and all of this. But then all of a sudden I got woozy again and he had to help me sit back down on the bed before I collapsed again or something.

I was secretly grateful for that but then big surprise, Vlad had to start treating me like a baby again right after that so I snapped angrily at him, telling him that I already knew I was sick. That's why I was stuck here with him! I really wish I had anywhere else to go then here but I didn't. Vlad was all I had and I hated it! I hated it because even here I didn't feel safe, felt like I had to keep my guard up 24/7 and that if I slipped up again I'd lose him too. I'd lose him either because he'd throw me out and start attacking me again or...I dunno, maybe Vlad would just give up on me and tell me he wasn't going to help me anymore. I didn't like either option but even if he really did care and want to help me, I was scared of getting close to him and of him finding out what was bothering me more then my parents hunting both half's of me down.

I knew he was right about one thing, I wasn't being fair to him so I swallowed my pride and apologized to Vlad because snapping at him wasn't going to help me feel better. But my head...it hurt so much and I didn't know why. Was it because I was sick? Because of all the nightmares and all these horrible thoughts whirling in my mind? Did thinking about this too much actually hurt...?

I faintly heard Vlad say something about needed to trust him if he was going to be taking care of me but I could already feel myself falling again, my thoughts drifting away as my thoughts started to get hard to grasp and my vision blurred, but before that happened I looked up at Vlad and asked him honestly, "Why're you even doing this Vlad? Just...give it to me straight for once in your life. When I pulled those pranks on you before and you came all the way here to get back at me, things got so messed up and worse then they've ever been for me because of you and then..." then it happened, just like my nightmares everything became a confusing mess of memories mixed with illusions born of my fears, both old and new, and I couldn't see straight. It was too much so I gripped my head, hunching forward while willing Vlad to go away before I lost it but it was too late. I was already losing it and before I knew it more words came tumbling out of my mouth and I couldn't stop myself from saying something I didn't mean to just like earlier. "You shot me. No, stop it! Stop thinking about it! That was from before all this and I took that blast on purpose to stop you from ruining my life as both Fenton and Phantom. But this time, it was...my dad. He shot me. By choice. I don't get it! Why is my head so messed up right now? Why can't I stop thinking about every time I've ever been shot at and thinking I see his face? Dad...why'd you have to do it...? Why did one mistake have to cost me everything all over again? Why did it have to send me crawling to the guy who destroys everything he touches? Even...me?"

That was it, even if my parents didn't destroy the other half of me then Vlad would. That's what happened last time so...was history doomed to repeat itself with us? Was I already turning evil because Vlad was making me feel so resentful towards him? Was he already corrupting me more then I realized? He was...going to destroy me. Unless...I destroyed myself first, but was that really my only option now? I've already lost my family and friends but to save them from a worse fate if lost myself again and tried to get Vlad to remove my humanity to escape the pain, was that my only option? I already sacrificed pretty much my whole life to keep everyone safe from ghosts, so to save them from the worse one that I was destined to become...did that mean I had to sacrifice everything? Including my own life? How was that fair? How was any of this fair!?

I was too dehydrated to cry but found myself sobbing anyway, it was all just too much to bear and I was scared to death of what I might have to do next to keep everyone safe from me. I promised them I would never become evil like Dan, and I wasn't going to no matter what. But I was scared of thinking that if things kept going like this and I fell deeper and deeper into despair I might ask Vlad to do exactly what he did before and erase my humanity. I was even more scared of him actually caring enough about me to actually do it too. So in my mind there was only one other way to stop it, which was to erase myself entirely so there would be nothing left of me to become evil...

I became only dimly aware that Vlad was talking to me and rubbing small circles on my back as he held me close and I cried my eyes out with my desperate non-existent tears, but his voice kept fading in and out of focus so I barely caught every other word. That's when it happened. Like a trigger word planted in my subconscious from a hypnotist, the moment I heard Vlad say _'inevitable'_ I swear I actually heard Dan's evil laughter echo in my head as he repeated the words from that day that have haunted me ever since-

 _You don't get it do you? I'm still here! I STILL exist! That means you still turn into me._

It was like he was in my head right now, laughing, mocking my pain, holding a vice-like grip over my heart and everything else faded away as the fear took root and I shouted, "No! No let go of me! I-I'm not going to turn into you! You can't make me! I promised them! I WILL NEVER BECOME LIKE YOU!"

The moment I was freed from Vlad's embrace, I transformed and ran -or flew rather- as far and as fast as I possibly could. Away from Vlad, away from Dan's voice, but both kept following me no matter where I went! There was no escaping from it! More importantly there was no escaping from Vlad when I heard him call my name and urged me to stop. I hesitated for a split second because his voice sounded so hurt, so heartfelt and earnest for once that it caught me off guard. But when I looked over my shoulder to risk glancing back at him, the same thing that happened with his duplicate happened to the real Vlad and he morphed into Dan right before my eyes, and the fact that he was STILL chasing me only made me freak out more!

"No! Get away from me!" I pleaded, both for my sake and his because I didn't want to hurt the real Vlad. He didn't deserve it this time. He didn't know what was happening to me and I wanted to keep it that way. Who knows, maybe without me around Vlad will give up being a bad guy and going after my mom while wanting my dad dead, if I was really more important to him...then maybe...

I was flying way too fast though, so when he suddenly teleported in front of me I wasn't able to stop myself from almost crashing right into him. Vlad also used one of his trademark moves of snatching my wrist -which usually resulted in him zapping me- but then he switched it up by slamming his fist into my gut. I grunted in pain as the air rushed out of my lungs which I was probably going to use to activate my Ghostly Wail as a last resort to escape from him but he must've guessed as much and knocked the wind out of me for that reason and to knock me out again. My eyes rolled and I blacked out but his firm grip kept me from falling to the ground like I had during that thunder storm. Still, the last thing I remember was he real Vlad fading back into focus as he pulled me into his arms again and his warmth embraced my chilled bones, not that it could erase the dread that chilled my heart to the core though. All I could do was fall into the darkness once more, enveloped by these strong yet gentle arms that as much as he might want them too, couldn't shield me from the weight of what I might have to do not only to keep my family and the world safe...but him too.

Safe...from me.


	10. Looking For Answers

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 9: Looking For Answers

* * *

Vlad's POV

As soon as Daniel was safely tucked away again, I decided that to make better use of my time and effort I would continue my search for answers instead of concerning myself with the _'what ifs'_ for now since hearing about it second-hand from his parents and from Daniel himself only during those feverish spurts was getting us nowhere...

I needed answers.

And some of those answers at least were already at my fingertips sitting right on the security footage that I nearly forgot about after Daniel's first panic attack down in the lab. Or no, that was the second one since the first was outside in the rain and now this latest one was the third. Well, as they say the third time's the charm so it was Daniel's troubling emotional state that motivated me to do what I had to to ensure that I could make sure he was properly taken care of. And for starters that meant stabilizing him physically so that his fever wouldn't interfere with addressing his clearly traumatized mind.

As for the culprit behind his poor health, I knew I needed to know everything about that blasted gun they used on him. Running a diagnostic of one of its bullets was one thing, but finding the blueprints and examining the weapon itself would allow me to make a more effective antidote and prevent this weapon from EVER being used again. Not on Daniel or any other ghost, half or not. Myself included.

Before I decided whether to sneak in or go to Fenton Works _'in person'_ while my duplicate did all the work, I needed to make sure that Daniel couldn't make another escape attempt while I was gone. So my first order of business was to repurpose the human ghost shield I used back when I was testing Jasmine by forcing her to face her little brother in combat while wearing the new and improved Ecto-Skeleton. This time however I decided to use it on a smaller scale so that Daniel couldn't leave his room, because I didn't want him wandering around in his condition even just down to the kitchen. Truth be told I already had one installed in the mansion itself that I could use but as I said, I didn't want to risk him poking his nose around where he shouldn't or worse, have him be seen outside the mansion by a nosy reporter.

Judging from the consistency of the previous panic attacks I also deduced that moving Daniel to the lab was out of the question as waking up there would only make him feel more trapped and liable to lash out like a cornered animal. I didn't want to do this either, trapping him in his room but sadly Daniel had forced my hand, which was nothing new really...

Still, I didn't want him to feel too isolated or unable to get the things he might need while I was away so I arranged to have a television moved to that room along with a small fridge and a snack tray which I hoped would be enough to appease him for now should Daniel wake up before I returned. After all, the downside of leaving his ghost powers intact was that his body was burning off the sedatives and the nutrients I'd given him much faster then a normal human. I knew that was mostly due to his fever trying to burn off the infection but his body didn't know that and was simply burning off everything I gave him at an alarming rate, which included the morphine I was giving him for the pain and the temporary antidote for the metal's effects.

I wasn't going to be able to make a better antidote until I studied the weapon itself so first of all I needed to know what it looked like either way before I stole it from Fenton Works. And believe you me, as much as I enjoyed stealing and improving the few beneficial inventions my darling Maddie and that oaf have made, this was one that I simply could not allow to exist or any others like it. I couldn't let the Guys in White get their hands in it either because that would spell disaster not only for me but for Daniel and every other ghost in the world. And no matter how useful this weapon might be against a more powerful ghost then myself, the risk greatly outweighed the benefits, which meant it was something that I was determined to leave well enough alone after this because hopefully I would never have to make an antidote for it again...

Bracing myself for the horror I was about to witness I had cleaned up the mess I made earlier and brewed a fresh batch of freshly ground coffee before I got started watching the footage. Of course, having a feeling I might need more information I decided to download ALL of the security footage to sort through at a later date. For now all I needed was the recordings from the day my little badger was so brutally attacked by his parents. And good lord was that going to be painful to watch, but it was going to be even harder not to shoot a Jack shaped hole in the monitor once I saw him actually shoot the dangerous weapon unknowingly at his own son.

Sipping on my coffee I pulled up multiple screens so I could watch what happened down in their lab where the Fenton Portal was along with what was happening through he rest of the house, especially Daniel's bedroom. The spy camera in Daniel's room was only set to record whenever he _'went ghost'_ as he put it and a little after or when those two friends of his were around since I did not wish to invade his privacy to that degree, because even I found that repulsive. Not to say things didn't slip through but I ignored them for the most part like when he was talking to his friends online or playing a videogame instead of doing his homework like a typical teenager. Still, I found myself both fascinated and disturbed by what I saw to the point of pausing the other screens to focus on Daniel's daily routine from that day...

When the security camera first activated it was because Daniel had just flown through his bedroom wall at one in the morning, his eyes drooping as he haphazardly set his trademark ghost-capturing thermos on his dresser so he could take a quick breather before releasing the ghosts he caught back into the Ghost Zone. He transformed back into his human form a few seconds later gripping the edge of the dresser as he swayed dizzily and looked up at his reflection in the mirror.

"Is it always going to be like this?" Daniel asked his reflection after tracing one of the dark circles under his eyes. But of course, no one answered him so he sighed, reaching for the thermos once again when Daniel gasped when his ghost sense went off again and he groaned. "Seriously?"

After that, he almost angrily snatched the thermos, transformed, and flew out the window again to take out his frustration on the next ghost. By the time he returned, it was four in the morning now and Daniel was practically dead on his feet, if he had any since he was still in ghost form sporting a spectral tail as he briefly flew down to the lab, released the ghosts, then fell face first onto his bed and was asleep in almost an instant.

Only a few short hours later, his sister knocked on the door and Daniel jerked awake, having slept through both his alarms and told him to get ready for breakfast. Daniel however, just glowered grumpily at her and said, "You know what, I think I'm going to call in sick today. I couldn't focus on school even if I wanted to. Do have any idea how many ghosts I fought last night?"

Worried, Jasmine put her forehead to his, checking for a fever which I found quite endearing actually, but upon finding nothing she frowned. "Danny I know ghost fighting is your thing, but you really need to learn how to pace yourself and manage your time better. Not every ghost has to be captured right away and clearly you need more sleep. At this rate even mom or dad will start to notice how bad you look and start asking questions!"

"Good!" Daniel suddenly snapped as he flung out his arms, glaring at her. "At least then maybe they'll notice I even exist! Look I know they're excited about that new gun they're working on and all -which by the way looks really painful and I really don't want to be on the receiving end of that thing- but when I came home from school yesterday and told them I was going to the moon just to see if they were paying attention do you know what they said? Mom said _'ok sweetie, have a good time'_ as she waved me off and Dad said _'don't forget to do your chores before you go son, and no being later for curfew this time!'_ Jazz, I could've told them I was off to join some murder cult called the _'Dastardly Unicorns'_ and they wouldn't have bat an eye! Sometimes I wonder if they even care..."

With a sigh Jasmine pulled his arms down and smiled unsurely as she replied, "Of course they care, Danny. It's just...you know how they get. Besides, you can't call in sick. You have a test today remember? One that you actually managed to study for and felt so confident about! Don't you want to pass it and show them how smart you are? Maybe then they'll pry themselves away from their work to give you some much needed praise, because they need to see how amazing I already know you are!" Pulling her reluctant little brother into a hug, Jasmine continued warmly, "Danny I know you're a smart kid so don't let something like a lack of sleep get you down. I promise if you do well on this test then I'll take you out to see that movie you wanted to see, what was it, Star Raider 3?"

Smiling sheepishly Daniel corrected, "It's Star Thief 3 actually, but yeah." With a sigh he hugged her back and apologized, "I'm sorry Jazz, I didn't mean to snap at you. I'm just really tired that's all. I hope I can stay awake long enough in class to remember even half of what you helped me study."

"Well if you want to do that then the first step is a good breakfast!" Jasmine beamed, pulling Daniel to his feet and half dragging him downstairs.

I couldn't help but smile and appreciate everything his elder sister did for Daniel, especially since he needed at least one person looking out for his well-being while he was looking out for everyone else's. Still, it bothered me that this footage was from the day that Daniel was shot and from the sound of it his parents were still working on that gun at that point. That meant that when he got home in ghost form and they used it it had only JUST been completed without them testing it first on a real ghost or at least an ecto-infused target to take readings of to properly celebrate the power output of those bullets. It sickened me to know that Jack once again was so eager to test out their new toy that taking any safety measures was the furthest thing from his mind. But what should I expect of a man who refused to listen when both Maddie and myself warned Jack not to turn on the proto-portal until we were sure the calculations were correct and it was safe to use...?

At any rate, once Jasmine and Daniel left for school I returned my attention to the recordings from down in the lab where Maddie and Jack were still hard at work _'perfecting'_ their new weapon. Of course, Maddie was the only one making adjustments and telling her husband it wasn't ready yet every five minutes. Really, could Jack be any more childish? And a dangerous child at that playing with something potentially lethal. Not to humans obviously, but to a ghost if they even could be completely destroyed. Still, I gathered some useful information from watching them when I noticed how when Jack got bored of waiting for the gun he decided to tinker with the Ghost Portal. Of course, after awhile when it started making strange noises Maddie got fed up with him messing with and turned it completely off. And when she did a feeling of dread clenched my heart as it got closer to the estimated time that Daniel had returned home.

Sadly I didn't have any cameras at Daniel's school anymore so I had no idea how his day had gone save for what he told me during our battle where he shouted something about being fed up with every ghost and their dog -literally since he'd been visited by an actual ghost dog that he was having a tough time getting to back off- was giving him a hard time and my appearance was the icing on the cake. So from what I could deduce, aside from the two ghosts Daniel faced that morning plus how ever many he captured during the previous night, he had fought more or less at least five more ghosts, myself included, the day this all happened. And if Daniel was this fed up they must've been more the usual Specters...

Well if I felt guilty before about being so hard on him before I felt much worse now since I had a better idea of just how strained Daniel was the entire day. I practically inhaled the rest of my coffee as the appointed time arrived when Daniel made it home after our fight, since I assume he hadn't met any new ghosts on the way home, and mentally steeled myself for what I was about to see. Glancing at the camera in the kitchen where Maddie and Jack were finishing their late dinner while making the final touches, to my horror I watched as Daniel walked past them with a small wave as he unsteadily made his way upstairs...in ghost form.

I was in just as much disbelief as his parents when I saw it because judging by his usual habits Daniel would transform back to his human form the moment he was inside the house if not before. But this time he was so out of sorts that Daniel completely forgot to change back. And that innocent mistake had proven disastrous...

Snatching the new gun off the table and handing it to Jack who was currently unarmed, the couple rushed out of the kitchen and followed Daniel to the staircase where Maddie's eyes narrowed and she hissed in a commanding and frankly uncharacteristically harsh tone, "If you value your afterlife, don't you dare move."

Daniel of course tensed, not knowing what was going on yet so he tried to cover it up by asking but, sadly it was too late. To them, Daniel was just another ghost who had just invaded their home and they were ready to defend it and their children to the death, especially against something that itself was dead. I winced in sync with Daniel when Maddie snarled that she wasn't his mother and demanded to know what he was doing in their house, assuming of course that Danny Fenton was safe and already in bed at this very moment since as it turned out Jasmine had been invited to a slumber party with some friends and wasn't going to be home until the next day, which was now today.

My anger boiled though when the simple-minded Jack told his wife not to bother asking 'it' any questions until they had captured the ghost boy. And of course Daniel had every right to be upset about being called as such but now wasn't the time to worry about that. His parents both had their guns trained on him and he needed to get out of there, right then, or fight back. Instead, Daniel foolishly tried to negotiate with them and it ended in disaster. Jack exclaimed that he wasn't about to let Danny Phantom endanger his family and before Maddie could stop him, Jack fired at Daniel's shoulder.

Actually seeing him sustain the injury made my eyes burn brightly in rage and the screens flickered slightly, my god there was so much more blood on him then there was when I saw Daniel falling from the sky since the rain had washed most of it away. It was like scene out of a horror movie as I watched the ectoplasmic blood gush out of his wound and stain his white gloves as he fled downstairs in the hopes of escaping to the Ghost Zone or tricking his parents into thinking that's what happened. Smart. But sadly, it was in vain since the portal was still shut off from earlier much to his dismay. After that he flew back to his bedroom but Jack spotted him and both of them gave chase. In desperation Daniel turned human after he tripped over himself and screamed when doing so irritated his wound and the pain nearly robbed him of his consciousness. The moment his blood turned red and continued to stain his shirt Daniel realized that there was no way to hide this and panicked. I panicked as well the moment I saw him fling open the window and throw himself from the second floor of his house, but much to my relief he wasn't doing something as foolish as attempting to commit suicide and instead fled from Fenton Works in human form, on foot, since the ghost shield was still up since they had turned it on to trap him inside not knowing that Daniel was only half-ghost and their own son.

After that I had no more footage of Daniel but saw as his parents stared in horror at the sight of the mixture of red and green blood all over Daniel's room before they rushed downstairs to get to the Fenton Assault Vehicle and gave chase, now assuming that their son had been abducted by Danny Phantom. The rest I could only guess from my own observations and from the looks of it, they had taken the gun with them. My only hope was that they had put it away in disgust once they realized it had harmed Daniel's human self too and that would be enough of a reason for them not to use it again for some time. Judging from their horror-stricken expressions and the phone call they made to me they only regretted using the gun after finding out that it had harmed their human son. They could care less about Danny Phantom and now had more reason to despise and hunt down that ghost boy. If only they knew that what they were hunting and nearly murdered was their own child...

Leaning back in my seat, I sighed heavily and pinched the bridge of my nose. My heart was still racing too just from watching that whole scene unfold. I could only imagine what living through it must have been like for Daniel. No wonder he was so traumatized! If my parents had gunned me down like that I would've felt the same, only worse since my parents were even less forgiving people. Well aside from my father, he was a good man but his life was cut short through a fatal disease. After that my mother was never the same and always looked so sad when she saw me since I reminded her of my father whom she lost. Not long after that she lost her life too, though that was something I didn't want to think about now.

My primary concern was Daniel, who was still alive and if I had anything to say about it...would soon have the father he deserved and not the one who tried to kill him point blank. After turning everything off, I adopted an air of professionalism and began running through scenarios in my brain of how to get that gun without the Fenton's suspecting my involvement either in ghost or human form, and how to deal with Daniel once he regained consciousness again since there was more to his emotionally compromised state then what his parents had done. Whatever it was, it went much deeper, somewhere darker in his heart and all of this simply dragged it back up to the surface. And I was determined to get to the bottom of it one way or another with or without Daniel's consent...


	11. Infiltration

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 10: Infiltration

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Vlad's POV

In the end, I didn't trust myself not to destroy Jack on the spot and verbally lash out at Maddie as well so I decided to go with the preferred stealthy approach. Before that plan was put into motion however, it took a few hours to adjust the old human and ghost shield to suit my needs, but the end results were well worth it once I activated it. Of course I made sure that it was programmed to ignore my signature so I could deactivate and pass through it at will without any complications regardless of which form I was in...

Once I was finished installing the device, that also gave me a chance to get everything else ready for Daniel in the meantime and check on his condition again while I was in the room with the terribly weak teenager. He looked so innocent and helpless laying there, his face as pale as a real ghost though the hint of red of his cheeks betrayed his lingering fever, but with any luck his deep level of exhaustion could work in my favor since Daniel seemed too tired to even dream at the moment. Aside from the steady rise and fall of his chest Daniel was completely still. There wasn't so much as a twitch in his fingertips or a flutter of his eyelashes as he slept on, totally oblivious to my plans of keeping him quarantined in this room until he got better or at least was rational enough to behave himself. Which hopefully meant that there was no reason to fear Daniel having yet another panic attack.

Even so, regardless of his peaceful appearance I couldn't let my guard down since that's what got me in trouble during his previous fits of delirium. That's why just to be safe before I left, I gave him another sedative to ensure that his sleep would last longer since he desperately needed the rest anyway. Better safe then sorry as they say.

And of course I was leaving Daniel with only the best bodyguard I had available at my disposal who was curled up on his chest again, purring away as if nothing dire had happened only a few hours earlier. Maddie, being neither human nor ghost could still leave the room at will so I could only hope that Daniel wouldn't somehow use her to get out of here, but then again...what could he possibly get a cat to do?

I knew I was overthinking things but still...I needed Daniel to be safe. Even if it was safe from himself. If nothing else proved to him that I cared, then showing him how far I was willing to go for his sake just had to. This was one scheme that was devoid of it's usual pettiness. I was doing all of this for the sake of someone who meant more to me then he could ever hope to realize...

"I'll be back soon little badger," I called gently, brushing some hair from his placid face. "You'll thank me for this later." After that before I could talk myself out of this to stay by his side, I activated the shield and left the mansion via teleportion.

As an added precaution I activated the outer shield as well which was invisible to the human eye, but not to a ghost. If any ghost so much as brushed past the surface of the shield they'd be in for a nasty shock, especially if they were powerful ones. I wasn't expecting any visitors, least of all from any of my allies, but they knew me well enough to come back later if I did not wish to be disturbed which was one of the reasons I would activate the shield, that. That and to keep out burglars who were foolishly unaware that I was famously known to be haunted by a particularly dangerous vampire ghost that followed me all the way from Wisconsin that didn't take kindly to intruders.

Well this time as far as the Fenton's were concerned I wasn't an intruder or a guest, I was going to be nothing more then a silent shadow. My plan was to simply take what I needed and then make it look like either Jack misplaced it or the government had stolen it, which I wouldn't put past them. That is, if they were actually any good at their job let alone being even remotely stealthy. But how could they be when their gut reaction is to point their guns at the nearest object and charge them up loudly before taking in their surroundings properly? And they call themselves professionals? No, they like Jack they were idiots, the lot of them. So if I could help it, I didn't want to draw the attention of either one...

* * *

As when anything earth-shattering happened, despite the overcast skies above everything below looked almost abhorrently normal. I never understood what it was about this little town that Daniel was so adamant about protecting so I could only assume it was the people here he wished to protect. Too bad two of the most important people in his life were now hunting him as we speak.

Flying a little lower once that obnoxious sign for Fenton Works came into view, I scanned the area and was surprised to find that the ghost shield was down. I would have assumed since they were on high alert Jack and Maddie would have kept it up and running to protect their daughter from the same ghost. Had Jasmine turned it off in the hopes of Daniel returning home? What I did expect though -or rather had been hoping for since I was in no mood to see either of them at present- Daniel's parents were nowhere to be seen. They must have gone out ghost hunting in hopes of catching Danny Phantom while he was hurt or at least a ghost that might know his whereabouts...

 _Of course they didn't listen,_ I scoffed when I noticed that the Fenton Ghost Assault -or rather their RV- was missing from their driveway.

Speaking of which, it looked like Jasmine's car was there actually which surprised me since I assumed they would have made her go to school regardless of the current situation. Then again the poor girl was probably distraught that her little brother wasn't only missing, but hurt as well. And since she actually knew his secret then the truth of what her parents had done to him must have come as even more of a shock. Yet for his sake Jasmine was probably doing her utmost best to keep that to herself, even now.

 _I'd best be careful so she doesn't notice my presence. Which reminds me, there is something else I need to take care of while I'm here as well,_ Knowing exactly where I needed to go I took a risk and teleported inside Fenton Works itself.

Like it's own occupants I knew their home like the back of my hand, and even in the confusion since there were so many pieces of loose equipment scattered about it was relatively easy to find what I needed. Jack still hadn't changed since our college days and had this bad habit of piling things in corners where he'd soon forget about them. Typical case of organized chaos. Luckily I was much more organized and despite his protests would often even organize the items in said corners so we could still access what we needed. Needless to say that saved us a few times when a report was due and we needed a specific piece of study material hidden in his piles of documents, because back then we had to print up everything.

I smiled sadly when I floated to their pile of blueprints and noticed Maddie's pattern of organization as well when I recognized her handwriting in the side notes after making corrections in the calculations. She was always good at pointing out both our and her own mistakes to hopefully prevent us from making the same ones. Well sadly, this time I was correcting a mistake that was just as much her fault as it was Jack's, though it pained me to do so since it never should have happened. Not to Daniel...

I remember how much we were all fascinated by ghosts and the supernatural back then, but now that I think about it, since when was there also this hatred of them too in their hearts? In the twenty years I was gone what could've happened to make them feel so much hostility towards something they couldn't see as sentient let alone capable of human emotion...?

Shaking my head and remembering that I wasn't alone in this house since Jasmine was home, I quickened my pace and flipped through the blueprints, searching for the most recent ones. Confound it all why weren't any of these properly dated!? If I could get away with it I would have just taken all of them with me but that would look too suspicious even if I did blame the government for taking them. The pile was still relatively small though thankfully so there wasn't too much to sort through, but I was still on edge because a darker part of me wanted to destroy this entire laboratory so that they could never invent such a dangerous weapon again that could hurt Daniel so badly.

I sighed in relief once I finally found the blueprints I was looking for and safely tucked it away in the fold of my belt along with the blueprints for two other weapons of a similar design, one from an old abandoned project and the other from a newer yet unfinished one. Then I turned my attention to searching for the actual gun Daniel was shot with now that I knew what it looked like. Though I prayed that my earlier theory was correct and they hadn't taken the gun with them ghost hunting.

Aside from the gun blueprints, I was also looking for a certain boomerang-shaped tracking device which had led Daniel's friends straight to us during the cloning incident. I couldn't risk them using it again to find him so I had plans to erase his signature from it, disguising it as more of Jack's compulsive tinkering with something that already worked fine. More often then not Jack would end up breaking something rather then _'improve it'_ which is why Maddie had to step in so often and stop him from messing with something too much.

While that usually worked in Daniel's favor when Jack messed up a tracking device in-particular, when Jack did this with their most important and ironically dangerous invention, the Ghost Portal, it had nearly proven fatal when Daniel was attempting to use it escape their attack. From the looks of it their portal was STILL closed and powered down, which at least right now might actually be a good thing because it greatly reduced the chances of one of Daniel's enemies appearing at this crucial time and causing a problem while he was too weak to fight back. Not that I was going to let him do any ghost fighting anytime soon though...

Striding over to the inactive portal, I shuttered as I recalled Daniel's description of the pain the gun made him experience when he was first injured and compared it to his own accident from when he received his ghost powers. He felt the pain throughout his entire body at once and not from just a blast to the face as I had, if I'd known that sooner I never would have made light of it so often. For a fourteen year old to have felt such an all consuming pain was-

 _It...it felt like when I first got my powers when I messed with my parents ghost portal...I couldn't breathe, couldn't think, couldn't escape from the agony ripping through my entire body because it was everywhere, inside and out. I couldn't even see the button to turn it off and save myself. I seriously thought that I was going to die that day-_

"Those fools...how could they have left something so dangerous out in the open like this? What sort of parents, inventors or not, would willingly expose their own children to the SAME DANGEROUS GHOST PORTAL THAT HOSPITALIZED ME?! All they had to do was lock the door, make this place off limits to them at all times, and yet they were this careless? And Jack he-!" I snarled, forgetting for a moment where I was as I punched the nearest wall to vent at least some of my anger without letting it consume me. "Curse you Jack, as if I didn't have enough of a reason to despise you! Now you've gone too far! It wasn't enough that you've ruined my life, but now you've done the same to your own son!"

Realizing what a racket I was making I snapped out of it and quickly scanned the room for the gun so I could get out of here. As luck would have it it was right next to the work bench closest to the stairs. Because I had let my emotions get the better of me after all I knew I'd have to come back for that tracking device later tonight if not tomorrow before someone attempted to use it...

Flying over to it, I reached for the weapon when the door upstairs leading to the lab burst open and Jasmine exclaimed, "Danny w-wait!"

I froze and instinctively went invisible, snatching the gun and preparing to teleport when I noticed the other important object I was looking for was in her trembling hands. Blast it, how was I going to get it without having to overshadow the poor girl? I stared at her in disbelief for a moment, only to remember that she knew Daniel's secret that he was a halfa too. It would seem to me that while Jasmine was home alone she had likely been debating on whether or not to use that device to track her brother or not and risking her parents finding out that the means of finding Daniel was already within their grasp and they didn't need my assistance after all.

As expected, when I took a closer look at the distraught teenager Jasmine's eyes were puffy and red from weeping and when she called out to me thinking I was her brother I noticed that her voice was terribly cracked. I pitied the poor girl and was reminded of just how much she loved Daniel. If nothing else, at least he would always have her on his side no matter what. And that came as much as of a comfort to me as I'm sure it did to Daniel, knowing that there was at least one person who cared about all of him and not just one side.

Still hoping that I was there in the empty room, or that Daniel was rather, Jasmine continued desperately, "I-I know it was dangerous to come back here but if that's you, please come out so I know you're ok. Danny I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you! I know our parents don't like your ghost half, but I n-never thought they w-would-!" she covered her mouth and whimpered pitifully, still horrified by what had happened even though she didn't see it herself. Taking a deep breath and stepping further inside, Jasmine continued, "Danny, l-listen. I know there's probably not much t-time but please...listen to me, if you need a place to go since you and I both know that you c-can't stay at your friends houses then there's only one place where you'll be safe. Our p-parents will find you since they think you k-kidnapped yourself if you try Tucker or Sam's, you know that!" Raising the boomerang with a sad smile, Jasmine caught me completely off guard with what she said next, albeit a bit hysterically. "I deleted your signature from the Booomarang Danny, because I didn't want mom and dad realizing it could track you or let Sam and Tucker make things worse by going missing too to take care of you. I was...the truth is that I wanted to look for you myself, but that would've only put you in more danger. Please Danny I know you say you hate his guts but he's our only chance! We both know that there's only one person in this town -maybe even the world- that can keep you safe from our parents! If anyone can help, Vlad Masters can. I mean h-he helped you before didn't he? In that other timeline? That's why you know that deep down Vlad really does care and that he'll help you this time too. Danny, please, you know I'm right about this! You need help and Vlad's the only one who can give you that. I-I don't know what else to do Danny, I wish I was older and already moved out then I could hide you, but I'm not, I'm only sixteen. I wish...god I wish we didn't have ghost hunters for parents now more then ever because why did they have to shoot my baby brother?! WHY!? Danny you're always doing the right thing even when no one thanks you, when it HURTS, so why did this have to happen? You didn't deserve to lose everything...but maybe...maybe Vlad can help you get it back. Danny, you care so much about other people that you always put your life and dreams on hold for everyone else's sake, but for once in your life please, let someone save YOU for once. Promise me you'll try to talk to him Danny and ask for help, even if you can't bring yourself to tell him the truth about _'him.'_ "

My eyes narrowed, trying to wrap my mind around all of that while slowly floating further away from Jasmine, knowing it was a mistake to linger for too much longer yet, what she just said made me wonder. _She knows about this_ 'him?' _No, more importantly is Jasmine saying that she trusts me to take care of Daniel even after everything I've done to him? Why? And what was that about helping Daniel in another timeline? How is that even possible?_

"Danny? Are you still there?" Jasmine asked timidly, wiping her eyes to clear them of a fresh coat of tears. "Be safe, even if you're not here please, just be safe. I don't know if I'm doing the right thing but...I love you. And while he might not admit it, Vlad loves you too in his own weird way. He's...always cared but just doesn't know how to show it. But you can remind him Danny. Remind him that he's human too, just like you and that he has a heart buried under all that hate. It's not just being half-ghost that makes the two of you close, I just know it! If Vlad was that happy with the idea of taking me in when I ran away from home because he really does want a family, even though I'm just some stupid human and not something as amazing as you...I know he'll welcome you with open arms and put all his evil plots aside for your sake. And Danny? You need that. You need someone who accepts you, and so does he..."


	12. Darkness Without End

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/18/2018):** Warning! More tragic thoughts of suicide ahead! I feel so awful for making Danny so depressed but again, this is something he needs to work through and have Vlad talk him out of along with convince Danny that this really was the best place for him to be. Too bad Danny's too emotionally compromised to make the right choices for once. It doesn't help that a certain someone keeps messing with his head through some unknown means...

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Chapter 11: Darkness Without End

* * *

Danny's POV

I can't remember much of what happened to me for the next few days because I kept slipping in and out of consciousness the whole time. And whatever I saw when I opened my eyes continued flashing between reality and the nightmares haunting me about Dan and my parents. They were all blurred together to the point where I didn't even know anymore which one I was more afraid of; my parent's rejection, or Dan's creation?

But one thing remained constant throughout it all. Vlad. He was always there, right beside me. Sometimes he was the reason I was afraid and I tried to pull away, but other times, Vlad was surprisingly gentle and soft-spoken with me and I couldn't help but feel comforted by the fact that I wasn't alone. That's something I know Vlad's always been afraid of, which is why he's so obsessed with me and my mom. But since this was the first time I've felt that way myself I was only now starting to understand what was so scary about it. About being alone with no one to turn to. Because as much as I didn't want to rely on him, I also wanted to, and those conflicting feelings didn't help me figure out what Vlad had to gain from any of this besides the usual, which was having me at his side.

You know what the funny thing is though? During those brief moments of consciousness, more then anything I really wanted to hear Vlad's answer. Why was Vlad doing all of this? Why was he taking care of me? Why did Vlad suddenly care about what happened to me at all when he clearly didn't before since we were fighting all the time? All of those empty promises of giving me a better life, of teaching me about my powers, wanting to _'rule'_ together, none of it meant a thing if in the end all Vlad cared about was having me as another underling. Because if that's why he was doing this, then nothing had changed and Vlad only wanted me to- No that was the whole point, wasn't it? I had no idea what Vlad wanted from me, and maybe that's what was actually bothering me...

Was I only an investment to him, or did Vlad really care?

When we met during my parents 20th college reunion, if he didn't know I was half ghost, or if I was still a hundred percent human, could we have been friends even though I could tell that Vlad had some beef with my dad? I have no idea. Even now I can't help but wonder if things could have been different between us if Vlad and I became friends instead of enemies. I can't help but wonder how much easier my ghost fighting could have gone if I was willing to go to him for help and advice despite our different opinions about how we should be using our ghost powers, since he had used his to gain riches and power while I used mine to help people and protect my family. Too bad the price for his _'friendship'_ turned out to be the loyalty I had for the man Vlad flat out despised, my dad, who is an important part of my family and one of the very people I was fighting so hard to protect.

Then again, after all of this do I owe my dad my love or loyalty anymore since he shot me...? Would things ever go back to how they were before with my family or was I suppose to take Vlad up on his offer now about renouncing my dad and joining him? And...was that really a bad thing anymore? What did I have left to lose as long as Vlad promised not to waste him? He was still my dad after all, even now...which is probably what hurt worse then the injury itself.

I still remember how I felt went I first met him. I thought Vlad was really cool for a grown up, not just because he was rich and didn't treat me like a punk kid or even a straight up delinquent like most adults seem to on reflex whenever I'm standing next to my sister who was clearly the smart one. But Vlad wasn't like that or super stiff like the stereotypical millionaire, he wasn't afraid to be really openly passionate and even sort of childish about his love of the Packers. Looking for a way to connect with him somehow I remember thinking about if I wasn't so scrawny and Dash wasn't such a big jerk -or if I wasn't too busy fighting ghosts with my new superpowers- I would have liked to try out for the football team at school, that way I could find something to talk about with Vlad even though I'm more interested in becoming an astronaut.

What does he know about my dreams though? I doubt Vlad even knows my favorite color or that I like Dumpty Humpty. Then again, neither do my parents. It's all about ghosts with them and Vlad was no exception. I was half-ghost, and therefore Vlad was fascinated and obsessed with learning all about that part of me while my parents wanted nothing more then to wipe that part of me out not knowing we're a package deal.

Even if I wanted to there's no way to get rid of these powers. Sure I could stop using them but...if I did, then what? I was on the run from my parents now and would probably never finish high school now so forget college. Heck I couldn't ghost fight anymore since my parents would find and gun me down again and then do something terrible in the name of _'saving me'_ from the big bad Danny Phantom. I couldn't show my face around town if a missing person's report was filed, so to put it simply, even though I wasn't dead or turned evil, my life was over...

And not even Vlad Masters could fix it with all the money in the world.

* * *

I was alone in the darkness in the middle of the night when I woke up again after what felt like an eternity. My body felt heavy and stiff from not moving for days on end, that is if you don't count when I was weakly thrashing in my sleep, so sitting up was an impossible task. So I gave up and deepened the darkness by resting my arms over my eyes, hoping to go back to sleep again...

A choked sob escaped my lips as reality came crashing down on me again about where I was and why. Because sooner or later I was going to have to talk to Vlad about all of this. But I didn't want to. How could I trust him? How could I trust myself right now either to make the right choice? There WAS no right choice, only the least painful one. And I just...wanted the pain to go awa-!?

Tears filled my eyes and continuously fell onto the pillow in a steady stream the moment that thought crossed my mind and my heart clenched as a wave of despair washed over me. That was it wasn't it? That's why Dan is still here, trapped in the thermos at Clockwork's Tower. He existed because I did, and so did the possibility of me becoming him. It existed because this turn of events was already underway and at some point I made a wrong turn, a wrong choice. But how was being too tired to think straight a mistake!? Being tired wasn't a choice, it was a result of all those stupid ghosts I had to fight and Vlad was one of them! If both Vlad and my parents were serious about saving me then...at some point they would rip me apart, one would try to rip out my humanity, the other, my actual ghost half.

Lowering my arms, I slipped into a sort of eerily calm trance, or maybe it was a form of serenity because I accepted the choice I was making just like when I faced off against the Ghost King knowing I might have to sacrifice myself. I knew what I had to do before this time around, I became the reason the world ended. This was best for everyone, especially Vlad because in that other timeline it wasn't until he lost the most important thing to him that he finally realized how tragic his life was and that he was the one who doomed himself to be alone. In a way, I was saving him right?

Closing my eyes I took a deep breath and made a duplicate, guiding its actions to do what it had to before I could even be surprised that I finally managed to do it without my powers being enhanced. If only I realized sooner that this wasn't the reason why at all, if only I opened my eyes and peered into the darkness to see what was actually in front of me. But I didn't care, I wasn't thinking anymore, I was only acting on my feelings of wanting to end it before something worse began and my friends and family suffered more then I was now...

I didn't even think of un-hooking the IV's and the heart monitor before I did anything, but like I said I was sort of zoned out and lethargic as I felt the hands of my duplicate reach for my neck and apply pressure. I knew it'd be scary to strangle myself, but I didn't fight it. Well, not a first until my survival instincts kicked in and my heart started racing which alerted Vlad to something being horribly wrong.

After that I started to struggle when it became harder and harder to breathe, my nails digging into the duplicate's arms as I thrashed. I finally snapped out of it and realized what I was doing, or thought I was doing and tried to recall the duplicate only to find that I couldn't! My eyes snapped open and to my horror I was met with...a pair of red eyes again. Only this wasn't my duplicate or Vlad's, it was-!

"D-dan...?" I choked, my eyes rolling when my lungs began to burn.

There was no immediate reply aside from a toothy grin that caught in the weak moonlight sifting through the window as he leaned in closer and whispered in a warped version of my own voice. "That's it, just give up, don't fight it anymore. I already told you there is no escaping your fate. Clockwork only delayed the inevitable, but in the end...you will lose everything someday one way or another. But you can still save yourself from the pain. All you have to do is set yourself free from this weak human side of yourself and become a ghost. Then you won't have to worry about anything anymore. No more detention at school or getting bullied by people lesser then you; no more disappointed stares from your parents and teachers; no more sleepless nights fighting against your own kind; no more painful human emotions to confuse you and divert you from what you really want. We both want the same thing Danny...we want our freedom from everything holding us back. I can give you that freedom. Just accept me...become me..."

His voice started to fade with my consciousness and realizing this he loosened his grip and I gasped for air, curling up as I hacked and coughed while rubbing my throat. After all, he couldn't kill me since we were the same person, the same being because then he really would cease to exist. But I couldn't even tell if this was yet another of those horrible nightmares about him or if somehow this was real. And if it was real, then I-!

"Daniel!" I suddenly heard Vlad shout as he shot a blast at young Dan whose red eyes flashed in the darkness facing his direction before he just...vanished into a fine green mist. After that I was blinded by another bright light when Vlad turned on the lights and rushed to my side, scanning the room for the intruder with his own eyes glowing solid red and electric pink energy crackling in his clenched fingertips.

As for me, I was still in shock and my mind was even more of a mess so before Vlad could demand to know who that was or demand to know how it -how Dan- had gotten through the shield around my room, something inside of me snapped. And without any shame or reserve I flung myself at him, grabbing fists full of his silk robe, and howled in pain and agony, my whole body quivering with hopeless sobs.

I've never felt so much like I child as I did right then, terrified of the monster in my closet. My parents actually used to check my closet to make sure it was ghost-free before tucking me in bed at night. But this monster...it wasn't imaginary. It was real. And he was in my head. I wasn't sure how but this explained so much about why I've been having so many nightmares about Dan lately. I assumed it was because of what happened with my parents and knowing I could never get my old life back even with Vlad's help. This was much worse though, Dan was...connected to me and his powers were leaking into mine somehow which is how he appeared as my own duplicate when I tried to...

Oh my god, did I seriously just try to-!

"Help me..." I suddenly pleaded, holding onto Vlad like my life depended on it more then it did when I was shot, which it probably did. "V-Vlad...I need your help. I can't do this alone, please..."

I was out of my league here. Because Dan was the one enemy I couldn't defeat on my own, even when I confronted him, it was only thanks to Vlad's future self that I managed to stop him. I needed to know that Vlad was on my side, here and now, and willing to do what I couldn't which was to erase Dan forever. Dan might need me to exist, but I didn't need him. He was going to have to be the first and only ghost I ever _'killed._ ' Otherwise the only other way to stop him...was to erase myself.

And it wasn't until just now that I finally realized- "I don't want to die!" I shouted with every fiber of my being, letting that truth drown of everything else. "Please...save me Vlad. Save me before I do something I'll regret forever! Before I..." _Become him..._


	13. Never A Dull Moment

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/19/2018):** I prefer to keep this mostly about Vlad and Danny so there will be a few times that I go 3rd person like in this chapter but don't worry, it won't be often. In fact now that Danny's awake more of the chapters to come will likely have Danny AND Vlad's POV in it. And later...at an unknown time, we'll even get to find out how Dan is doing this, how he's messing with Danny's head. For now though this is mostly a chapter to give a peek of how the rest of the posse is coping with Danny being missing.

* * *

Chapter 12: Never A Dull Moment

* * *

3rd Person POV

 _A few days prior..._

 _After Jazz's run in with Vlad, though she was unaware it was him and not her brother that had stolen the gun and the blueprints from the lab, it was almost tragic in and of itself how little Danny's absence seemed to effect the rest of the world, whether it was as Fenton or Phantom. Of course for the few people who knew and cared about him it was felt for sure, namely his two best friends. But his absence was felt especially by Jazz, his older sister, so that caught everyone's attention. Because she was the more popular of the two, people took notice to how awful and upset she looked despite doing her best to go on with her life while secretly worrying about her little brother and the current situation with their parents._

 _Needless to say being the A-Student she was Jazz's teachers were shocked when she took a sick day but knowing her they figured she actually was sick and needed to recover. When she broke down during one of her classes when someone asked where Danny was though, Mr. Lancer pulled her aside to get to the bottom of things. After all, Danny was one of his students and despite often getting into all sorts of trouble it was clear that he was at least trying to keep ahead in school while dealing with pressure from somewhere, home most likely. After all, aside from Jazz their parents were...eccentric and therefore Mr. Lancer knew that he needed to be just as hard on them as Danny himself to get his message across that something had to change..._

 _Too bad things were worse then the overweight teacher could have imagined._

" _Jasmine if there's something wrong you can tell me. I hate seeing you like this, we all do, and there's more to it then you being sick," Mr. Lancer said in a serious but quiet tone as he handed her another tissue. "Did something happen to your brother? Your parents haven't called the school and he's been absent for the past two days so short of calling them myself or visiting your home I have no way of knowing what's going on unless you tell me."_

 _Jazz knew this was going to happen so she already had a story in mind that was half the truth and would at least prevent the government from taking her from their parents if they were suspected of shooting her brother thinking he was possessed. In truth her parents attacked Jazz once too, trapping her in a net and getting her hair caught in a wanna-be ghost catcher but that was never anything serious, not like this..._

 _When she saw the blood in Danny's room for herself before her parents could stop her, Jazz screamed at them in a fit of fear and rage, accusing them of being more careless then they've EVER been and hurting her brother. This was serious! He could be out there dying as they twiddled their thumbs! Most people didn't like Jack and Maddie Fenton already because of their ghost hunting antics but if word got out that their own son was injured by them they could get arrested for it and then where would she be? Forget helping Danny, if Child Services took Jazz away from them then finding the time to look for him would be impossible._

 _That's why Jazz really hoped it was Danny who came to the house the other day, because she at least got to tell him what she thought he should do. Her parents had called Vlad too of course but even if he knew the truth now there's no telling where Danny was now or if he was alright. After all he hadn't gone to Sam or Tuckers and their parents checked all of the usual places, but there was nothing. In fact they even thought about turning the Fenton Ghost Portal back on until Jazz threatened that if they did, she would leave right then and there and either go to her aunt's or go back to her friend's house since she refused to be anywhere near that portal, not if it meant seeing them drag her brother back and do worse things to him then shooting him. Even 'overshadowed' like they thought he was, Danny was going to be traumatized by the fact that they SHOT him. And they didn't even know that Danny was already scared of them and all of their harmful ghost inventions even before all of this!_

 _Resting a hand on her shoulder when she fell silent, Mr. Lancer pressed, "Jasmine? Are you alright?"_

 _Tearfully, Jazz shook her head, inhaling a shaky breath as she looked up at him and replied, "No I'm not. I thought I was but please...don't tell anyone about this unless you have to. We still...we still don't know exactly what happened yet and I don't want people blaming my parents."_

 _Narrowing his gaze, Mr. Lancer returned to his seat and calmly agreed, "Very well, I'll take your word for that but just know that if this is as serious as it seems I will do what I'm expected to as a teacher and a responsible adult, do you understand?" Jazz nodded, blowing her nose again and tossing the tissue away. Once she seemed ready he urged, "Alright, now please, take your time and tell me as much as you can. We can stop at any time."_

 _After that Jazz wove her story about how a ghost got into the house while her parents were home busy and up late that night working on something, so they chased it through the house and hurt it but then it fled to Danny's room and after that there was no sign of him, he should have been home. Therefore as much as Jazz didn't want to she had to pretend to go along with the story about Danny being kidnapped and not him being hurt BY his parents and running away from home to escape them. This way if and when Danny ever did come back no one could blame HIM for what happened. As for their parents, Jazz honestly felt disgusted by them and wanted to leave to but if she did then she couldn't keep an eye on what they were doing right now to find Danny and the ghost that 'took him' which was Danny Phantom. She was hoping to avoid revealing that detail though since he was a hero and Jazz didn't want people to go back to thinking he was a bad guy again._

" _Great Gatsby..." Mr. Lancer gasped, staring at her in alarm, "You mean to tell me your brother was abducted by a ghost?"_

 _Sniffling, Jazz nodded, "I knew their ghost hunting was going to get them in trouble someday but this-! Mr. Lancer they're not bad parents, we've known that from the start, but because they've made so many enemies of ghosts it was only a matter of time before one of us got hurt. I just...I wish I knew he was ok! There was so much blood...!"_

 _After that she broke down into tears again and forgoing school policy Mr. Lancer hugged the poor girl, promising her that he would do what he could for her until her brother was found and inform the school board of the current situation. As if ghost attacks on their school were bad enough but now they were sneaking into children's homes?! Sure it was only the Fenton's home but even so, something had to be done about this and hopefully Mayor Masters would be able to help. After all, Vlad Masters was an old family friend to Jack and Maddie according to what Jazz had told him once before so surely he could do something to save Danny from that ghost, even if Mr. Lancer couldn't. He could only hope this was serious enough to enlist his help rather then the police who as of yet weren't trained or armed with ghost weapons...yet. Because at least Mr. Lancer would feel safer and so would his students having weapons like those in more capable hands then the Fenton's who hadn't been able to protect their own son from ghosts and they were supposedly_ 'professionals' _themselves..._

* * *

 _The sad thing about this being a small high school is that it's hard not to run into certain people. And that's what happened when Jazz literally ran into none other then Dash Baxter, spilling her books all over the floor. At first she just stared at the fallen books, feeling like her heart had dropped through her stomach too before Jazz bent down and started picking them up as if Dash wasn't even there._

 _Snapping out of his daze, Dash unexpectedly bent down too and helped her pick up the last book which he held out to her, smiling stupidly as he asked, "Hey there, I didn't see you. My bad. So hey uh...why weren't you at school yesterday? We were kinda worried."_

" _You mean YOU were worried," Jazz sighed, taking the book from him without looking him in the eyes._

 _It was no secret that Dash had a huge crush on her, claiming she was the only SANE member of the Fenton family. And maybe that was true of her parents but, Jazz hated how Dash was always picking on Danny and getting her brother in trouble although she had no idea he was actually beating him up too. If she had, maybe Jazz would have slapped him so hard it would reach his human soul and tell him to buzz off. Then again she just didn't have the energy for it right now._

 _Blushing a little Dash admitted, "Ok, you caught me smarty pants. I was worried. I figured something bad must've happened to Fenturd or something. Since you're not sick, does that mean he is? I mean, why else wouldn't he be at school with his little geek friends?"_

 _Glaring at him, Jazz finally snapped, "Like you care! Don't pretend you give a crap when clearly you just want to get on my good side. I've told you before, insulting my brother is NOT the way to win me over you stupid jock! If you knew even HALF of what my little brother was going through you'd leave him alone! Or maybe if you had a heart at all you would-"_

" _Whoa, hey!" Dash blinked, raising his arms in a gesture of surrender, "Take it easy Jazz. Look, maybe I don't like your brother but if he's that sick even I'm allowed to wonder if he's ok , right? Not that I'm gonna start a charity fund or anything. And yeah, I guess I am more worried about YOU then him because whatever happened it's got you pretty messed up." Blushing again, he added, "And I like it better when you're smiling."_

 _Stunned for a moment, Jazz lowered her head and a curtain of red hair fell in her face as she confessed tearfully, "He's missing."_

" _Huh?" Dash gaped, slow on the uptake as usual._

" _Danny, my little brother, he's...gone missing. There was a ghost attack at our house the other day and when my parents attacked the ghost and it got hurt it fled to his room, then there was...lots of blood but no sign of Danny and-!" Jazz was about to break down again when her head snapped back up when she heard a familiar pair of gasps as Danny's friend's Tucker and Sam finally figured out where she was and what her next class was supposed to be._

 _Sam covered her mouth in horror and teared up too and Tucker...he actually DROPPED his precious PDA with a thunderous clatter when the whole hallway seemed almost a silent as the grave. And given their grave expressions when they fell on Jazz, a silent message seemed to pass between them to ask about what REALLY happened later, away from prying eyes. That still didn't stop both girls from bursting into tears, leaving the two remaining, the boys, at a loss for what to do. Because for once, Dash and Tucker were on the same level. Whatever happened to Danny Fenton, it was bad enough to make even the two strongest girls they knew cry their hearts out when the reality of Danny really being gone for who knows how long struck home like a bullet to their own hearts._

* * *

Vlad's POV

 _A few days later..._

"Need I remind you two that I also have a town to run? I don't sit around counting money all day as some would have you believe, and I am still first and foremost a business man with several large corporations so these things take time. Besides which, didn't I tell you two to stay out of it and let me take care of Daniel?" I told Jack with a forced calm since either him or Maddie, often both of them, kept calling me every other day asking for an update. Especially when they discovered the ecto-inhibitor gun was missing...

Although I had to admit I was not expecting Jasmine to play a part in my little cover up when she distressingly told them she thought she heard a noise down in the lab and thought it was Danny only to find some blueprints and the gun missing. After that, as expected, Jack blamed the government for breaking into his house and for once he didn't let it slide and grew furious, putting the entire house on lock-down. I actually rolled my eyes when he told me, thinking again that that's exactly what they should have done in the first place instead of leaving Jasmine alone to fend for herself to go on this fruitless search for Daniel or a ghost who might know where his would-be-body-snatcher was.

" _But it's been three days Vlad! A whole week has gone by since Danny was abducted by that horrible ghost! What if Danny's sick and dying somewhere with that ghost forcing him to hide from us? What if-! Please, V-man, we can't keep waiting for you to find something! I have to find him before that ghost boy does lord knows what else to my son as revenge for hurting it..."_ Jack tried to reason when Maddie took the phone and said essentially the exact same thing.

As she continued her little rant, at this point I felt nothing for her plight if only because Maddie was so wrong about all of this, about Daniel, and more importantly about _'Danny Phantom'_ himself. How could such a smart woman be so blind to the good that he did for their town? Didn't Daniel save them from the Ghost King, the most powerful ghost that they'd ever seen? Hadn't he already saved them more times then I can count from certain disaster...? Well true with the Ghost King I played my part too by stepping in at the last minute to lock the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep but it was through Daniel's brave and selfless efforts -even though I was using him- that saved the day and brought their town back to reality.

I even graciously let Daniel have all the glory for that victory since he had earned it in a way along with my approval after witnessing but a small glimpse of what I knew his powers could one day grow into. I also saved him then too by removing the suit before it could drain what little strength Daniel had left once he turned human again. That was his place, his role, to be a hero while mine was to be his secret guardian and mentor to the only other halfa in the world; teaching and protecting Daniel in secret so that even the boy himself was unaware that I was pushing him to become even greater and more powerful then ever before so I wouldn't have to always save him.

"Jack, Maddie, please understand I am doing all that I can!" I finally exclaimed in honest exasperation. "Unless you want me to quit my job as Mayor, which by the way I am actually considering to focus my efforts on finding Daniel, I suggest you two allow me to do things my way and don't act rashly. If he grows desperate there's no telling how far Danny Phantom is willing to take Daniel to keep himself safe from further harm. Lest we forget, ghosts can fly and some can even teleport great distances. Your son could be halfway across the country by now! And if he doesn't want to be found, it will be difficult to track him. That is, if he's even still in this plane. However, under NO circumstances are either of you to venture into the Ghost Zone. It is FAR too dangerous and if you die in there then both of your children will be left as orphans. Things have been hard enough for Jasmine as it is so I beg of you, don't give her any more reason to worry. Just stay home and be there for the daughter you still have that's safe! Be thankful that you still have her left when clearly being ghost hunters right now appears to outweigh being good parents since you're constantly putting them both in danger with your obsession to the point where your youngest is now missing because of it! If I had a son even half as loyal and loving as yours I never would have let something like this happen to him under my-!"

After that I angrily hung up the phone, unable to take anymore and realizing I was getting too emotional. I also disconnected the phone temporarily so that short of them coming here in person I didn't have to deal with Daniel's parents anymore. And thank the stars they didn't know my private cell number! At least not my main one. I had several after all, one for my business calls, one for my private use, and the other two for either my mayoral duties and or ghost-related schemes...

These past few days several problems have arisen that even my secretary and the city council couldn't handle so I ruefully handled them before returning home to take care of Daniel. After his previous escape attempt I was more careful about monitoring his movements and behavior for any sign of delirium, but thankfully the sedatives and fever kept him too weak to do much more then open his eyes and occasionally shy away from me before falling unconscious again.

I grew worried when the fever persisted, however, after successfully taking that gun apart and finding out what the correct energy calibration was I made a final version of the antidote and administered it. And much to my relief his wound finally closed within the next day or so. It was still healing internally of course but this was still a major breakthrough in his recovery aside from burning off the last of the infection so his fever would break. The burn mark on his back from the lightning strike had long since healed, leaving a barely noticeable scar. There wouldn't have even been a scar at all had his ghost regenerative powers been working properly. The bullet wound was likely to leave a scar too, however from what I could tell there shouldn't be any nerve damage so if anything Daniel might continue suffering from a psychological wound whenever he saw it rather then feel any physical pain or stiffness.

If anything Daniel was going to feel stiff from laying in bed for so long.

Installing the shield in his room had most definitely put my mind at ease so I managed to catch up on my sleep as well in order to study that weapon and the blueprints before sealing them away, hopefully never to be used again. Still, I decided not to destroy them after all just in case I ever faced a ghost -as unlikely as it was- that was too powerful to defeat with my power alone. I would be a fool to throw that safety measure away despite how much I detested that vile weapon and everything it represented...

* * *

Later that evening I smiled triumphantly when at long last, after taking his temperature again, I saw that Daniel's fever had finally broken! He was still tired and terribly weak from the ordeal but some color had returned to his cheeks and Daniel's breathing was now steady and even. I also changed his bandages again one last time as well and nearly all of his wounds were gone, leaving unmarred albeit still slightly pale skin smooth again.

"See? I knew you could pull through little badger," I applauded, petting his dark hair gently as Daniel slept on. My expression faltered however when he whimpered, tears forming beneath his eyelashes and one of them trailed down his cheek. Pausing to brush it away with my thumb like I had before, I sighed, "But I suppose the real battle has yet to begin though with helping you overcome the pain consuming your heart. Yet even that, I will try to heal if I can. I promise, it's going to be alright. You'll see..."

After that, I kissed his brow and decided to call it a night since that last call from the Fenton's had emotionally drained me as well. I let something slip carelessly about my feelings towards Daniel and my vexation with their idiocy concerning the well-being of both their children over the years. I obviously had no children of my own but some things were just common sense!

If you work with hazardous materials, you wear safety gear and keep your children well away from such things; if you have enemies then you make sure that they can't use your loved ones as leverage; if you have weapons that are even remotely lethal you keep them locked up! And yes Daniel and Jasmine were both teenagers now but what about when they were toddlers? Did those two STILL leave the door to the lab unlocked? Good lord either of their children could have swallowed something poisonous that no doctor could treat and died! And that blasted portal, it too wasn't even properly sealed and was constantly allowing dangerous ghosts and lesser specters into their own house! If it wasn't for Daniel they could have been murdered in their sleep a thousand times over!

Stopping myself before I grew too angry I turned off the light and as usual reactivated the shield before making my way to the master bedroom for a good night's sleep. He was bound to wake up soon now that his fever had broken and I wasn't about to be caught unprepared for it. In fact, during my rare moments of down time I began to ponder the reason behind Daniel's odd behavior, not to mention Jasmine's, when it came to any mention of _'him.'_

I could only assume it had to do with this alternate timeline where I somehow helped Daniel out of a particularly nasty bind likely caused by this evil entity causing him so much suffering in his dreams who for whatever reason he was deathly afraid of becoming like that same being. But why? Did this ghost have some kind of control over him? Had he tempted Daniel to down the path of darkness where even I was never willing to go? I may do unlawful things, but murder and torture were too boorish for me, which why I came to later regret doing the latter to Daniel in my desperate attempt to stabilize my prime clone of him. I couldn't erase the past, but hopefully I could give Daniel a chance for a new life if in the end...there was no salvaging his old one based on the stubbornness of his parents.

Setting all of that aside for the time being I dressed for bed after taking a nice refreshing shower and then went through a mental list of what I needed to do the following day. Now that Daniel's fever was gone, once he woke up he would need to eat to recover before we could discuss where to go from here. I was going to use every strategy I knew to convince him to stay with me willingly since unlike before Daniel had no reason to refuse unless he detested me so much he was willing to live out on the streets which again, I wasn't going to allow because one, his parents would find him easily, and second-

Whatever thoughts I was about to make were cut short when the alarm on my communicator went off alerting me to Daniel's medical emergency. But how?! His fever was gone and his condition was stable so...was he already having another panic attack?! Racing from my room I phased through the door only to see something almost just as alarming. Right above Daniel there was someone floating above him strangling the boy! I couldn't make out many details even with my ghostly night-vision but it was clear to me that whoever or whatever it was they had every intention of killing my little badger!

"Daniel!" I cried, immediately obliterating the creature before it could finish the job, leaving Daniel desperately trying to catch his breath again. Fearing that the creature was still there, I turned on the light and rushed over to him to protect him, my mind rapidly trying to come up with an explanation how ANYTHING managed to get past the shield without my knowing. Unless...did that being come out of Daniel himself as a manifestation of his fears? We were half-ghost after all and our feelings can deeply effect our form and powers alike. Or was there more to it then that? Was there something...manipulating my little badger and making him lose sight of reality?

Just when I deduced that the ghost or whatever it was was gone, I was startled when Daniel latched onto me, sobbing and trembling like a child. Then, with heart-wrenching hopelessness and desperation dripping from every word his weak voice could utter, Daniel begged, "Help me...V-Vlad I need your help. I can't do this alone, please..." His grip on me tightened almost painfully as his nails dug into my chest since he was holding me from behind and Daniel howled, "I don't want to die! Please...save me Vlad. Save me before I do something I'll regret forever! Before I..." He trailed soon after, reduced to a trembling mess of tears that stained the back of my silk robe. And not knowing how to comfort him from this position, I simply rested my hands over his arms and allowed Daniel to cry on, to let him release all of his pent up emotions in the hope that once he was ready and if this wasn't just another fit of delirium Daniel would finally let me do just that...

Save him.


	14. It All Begins With Trust

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/20/2018):** To the last reviewer _"SleepingBeautyRocks"_ I just wanted to say thanks for the review and explain something. I like the idea of telling Vlad about Dan but you'll be happy to know that I already have a plan laid out since Danny doesn't trust him with the whole truth yet and he's scared that Vlad will reject him too like his parents did. However, because both Danny and Jazz have spilled the beans about _'him_ ' Danny has no choice now but to tell Vlad about that alternate timeline true. But! Danny's not ready to reveal that Dan is in fact the future evil full-fledged ghost version of himself just yet. For now, all Vlad needs to know is that this future entity is somehow messing with Danny's mind and they need to stop him somehow before things get any worse. Thanks again for your review though and taking your time to share your idea! I really appreciate it! Now without further ado, onto the next chapter!

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Chapter 13: It All Begins With Trust

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Danny's POV

This time, I didn't question it when Vlad left and eventually came back with this fancy tea set and gently set it down on the table, pouring and bending a cup for me where I could see him do it. Guess the thought I was going to get all weird again about him drugging everything I put in my mouth made by him. Truth is, I would have preferred just a water bottle from the small fridge he apparently put into my room at some point, but whatever. Either way I was parched. You know, it's funny, but I really don't know how long I clung to him after Dan disappeared crying so shamelessly like that. But once my tears were spent I suddenly realized just how thirsty I was and noticed how much my throat hurt so I kept rubbing it, trying and failing at suppressing a cough every few seconds. Yeah, turns out trying to strangle yourself really hurts afterwards if you don't succeed at it...

Either way I sat there in silence and held the tea in my hands for a few solid minutes, just enjoying the warmth and zoning out when Vlad calmly reminded me to drink it and I did, slowly so I wouldn't burn my tongue and add that to my list of injuries. I was surprised too when it wasn't bitter like I was expecting but instead I was drinking a nice cup of honey lemon tea. You know, the kind some people like to drink when they have a cold?

It was really nice and I could feel the tension in my body slowly ebb away. However, in the back of my mind I knew this was only the calm before the storm so I braced myself as best I could for the onslaught of questions Vlad was bound to ask me, especially about what happened just now which should have been impossible.

And didn't I know it too! How the heck did Dan manage to take control of my duplicate like that? How was he messing with my mind from all the way in the Ghost Zone? Was this...even real or was it some twisted game someone else was playing with my head? It wouldn't be the first time after all since Freakshow-

"Daniel," Vlad suddenly called as he took the cup from me which had fallen to a standstill right at my lips when I zoned out again trying to come up with an answer. "We need to talk. Do you think you're up for it?"

Searching his eyes for any signs of sarcasm, I looked away from him and sighed, "Even if I wasn't, would you drop it?"

Smiling that cheshire-cat smile of his Vlad chuckled, "No, not likely. Especially after THAT display. But still, Daniel-" his expression darkened though and he continued, "What was that creature that tried to hurt you? The shield I have installed in your room was up the entire time you were sleeping so unless it was neither human nor ghost it shouldn't have been able to get in. That is why I have to conclude that it came from you..."

I jerked sharply and leaned further back into my pillows, feeling and looking ashamed of myself because if I had been thinking straight I never would have tried to do _'that.'_ And Vlad deserved to know at least that much since he's been working so hard to get me healthy again. I'd have to be a total jerk to let that go to waste whether I was an investment to him or not. Because the fact of the matter was I really didn't want to die. I could only hope this wouldn't make Vlad freak out and put me on suicide watch after I told him that part of the truth at least. As if he wasn't hovering over me enough as it is. Then again, I couldn't tell him the WHOLE truth either since I didn't even know what it was yet since we both knew I've been hallucinating for days because of that high fever I had, which by the way at least felt like it was gone. What I did know, is that Vlad was right. I needed to trust him at least enough to tell him some of the things that were happening to me and how I honestly felt or this was never going to work.

So I might as well get started before I chickened out again.

"You want to know the truth Vlad?" I asked bluntly, still unable to look him in the face.

With an exasperated sigh, Vlad settled into a sitting position on the edge of my bed, leaning back to look at me as he replied, "Obviously."

Swallowing past the lump forming in my throat, I told him, "I'm actually as surprised as you are that this happened. That was...supposed to be my duplicate."

His brow raised and despite himself Vlad smirked, "Ah so you've finally mastered duplication? It's about time."

 _Typical Vlad,_ I thought bitterly before continuing grimly. "Not really, I've been working on that for months and actually, I didn't manage to create one until today. I mean, I woke up alone in the darkness and...started thinking about everything that's happened the past few days since I'm assuming I've been out for awhile now. Vlad..." I looked him the eyes at last, my gaze hard and angry, but for a different reason and told him what he probably already knew by now. "My dad shot me, point blank. My parents didn't even give me a chance to explain as usual and just...went for it. You probably already know what happened since my parents must've have called you asking for help rescuing me or something after I ran off or was allegedly kidnapped by myself. Look, I know you hate my dad but before I tell you anything else I need to know. Did you go after him while I was unconscious? Did you try to kill him because of what he did to me? Because if you did-"

Vlad cut me off with a shake of his head and admitted, "Well truth be told I wanted to. I won't lie to you about that. I honestly wanted to more then ever because this goes beyond his usual blunders. Daniel, you could have died, and above all else that is the last thing I wish upon you or your family because despite their foolishness, deep down they truly love you. That love however, makes them blind to the truth and in denial of any wrong doings." Resting a hand on my leg to reassure me I guess, Vlad gave me this look I can only describe as surprised with himself as he finally said, "To answer your question, no, I have not made any attempts on your father's life. Because I knew that you would never trust me if I did. If it was true before when we were fighting, it's even truer now. You matter more to me now then my revenge does. Not to say I'm not angry with your father and even Maddie about all this but can you blame me? They way the keep talking about your ghost half quite frankly makes me furious. After all, many ghosts were human once, so does that not mean they are still capable of feeling pain in both their hearts and their physical forms?"

"I know...believe me," I said dejectedly, "Every time my dad saw me fly past the house I got a death threat so that's nothing new. To them, ghosts are like wild animals. They're feral, dangerous, driven by instinct, and need to be put down. When my dad shot me, the way they looked at me was-" Shaking my head since I needed to focus on the more recent problem I moved a little further away, worried about his reaction once I told him. "A-anyway, back to the duplicate thing. Like I said I kept thinking about how I've lost everything because I was an idiot and walked right past my parents in ghost-form. Everything felt so hopeless and I was scared so without thinking...I...I uh..."

I couldn't bring myself to say so I looked at Vlad, hoping he was smart enough to connect the dots as usual, and hugged myself, knowing how stupid and selfish it was to do that to myself. My life wasn't completely over yet and I still had people in my life who cared about me and didn't want me gone. Even my parents. Heck even Vlad didn't want me gone, otherwise he could have killed me any number of times and I remember having this dream where he angrily demanded that I start breathing or else Vlad would make me since I wasn't supposed to die on him. I wasn't even sure if that was a memory or a dream like a lot of things right now anyway...

There was also my sister, Jazz, who was probably having a hard time too since she knows the truth about me and realizes our parents shot not just any old ghost, but the ghost which was half of me. Then finally there was Tucker and Sam, I could only imagine how they were feeling right now. Still, they were alive, and so was I so I couldn't give up. I couldn't let Dan or whatever that thing was win and make me do something I'd regret, which is exactly why I swallowed both my fear and my pride and finally decided to let Vlad help me since from what I could tell, for once Vlad was serious about this and honestly gave a crap which was as new to him as it was for me.

"Daniel, please tell me you didn't-" Vlad asked, sounding deeply disturbed when my silence answered that question for him and he continued. "I know things may seem hard now but...haven't I given you every reason to trust me this time and to know that I care about you? Are you so afraid of me and hate me to the point that ending your life is preferable to staying with me?"

How I still had any tears left was beyond me but my vision began to blur when they welled up in my eyes and I told him, "No, it's not like that. I told you, I wasn't thinking straight and I was convinced that my life was over anyway because my worst fear of my parents not loving me anymore had become a reality. It made me feel hopeless and alone and I just-! I wanted the pain to end! I wanted so sleep forever and not have to worry about anything anymore! So yes, I finally created a duplication for the first and possibly last time and then I tried to make it smother me because I couldn't take it anymore!" Hugging myself tighter, my voice rose higher until I was practically screaming as I told him, "B-but then, something went wrong. It wasn't until I finally snapped out of my depressed trance that I realized what I was doing was wrong and tried to stop it, only, I couldn't control my duplicate! It wasn't even me anymore! It was something evil...something dark! And I don't know if it came from me or not, but whatever it was, I couldn't control it, couldn't stop it. If you hadn't blasted it I don't know what would have happened! God...this is worse then when Spectra made me feel so depressed and angry at everything that I was lashing out at everyone! Including my own sister who has been nothing but supportive my whole life! She's the only one who gets it! And now I almost abandoned her, abandoned everyone! And for what? To make myself feel better? To run away? How could I have been so selfish? I'm not like that! I'm not like this! I'm not LIKE HIM!"

A gasp escaped my lips and I covered my mouth when that slipped out and like a popped balloon I deflated and crumpled in on myself, gripping at my hair next. I wasn't going to tell Vlad about Dan, I couldn't, because he wouldn't understand! Not even my sister completely understood how I felt about him!

To know that I was capable of destroying the world like that, of disfiguring a ghost like I did to so many of my enemies that didn't deserve that cruel of a fate, of destroying innocent lives and ENJOYING it, it made me sick. I wasn't like that. I couldn't be! I was a hero, always tried to do the right thing and save people, I didn't do all that to feel good about myself, I did it because it was the right thing to do! But now, even doing the right thing was hard because when it came to my own life...I wanted to be selfish. I wanted to keep on living, even if it hurt. Because throwing my life away wouldn't save anyone if someday something else happened to the people I cared about while I wasn't there to stop it. The world and even time itself wouldn't stop moving forward just because I was gone...

It didn't work like that.

Taking in what I just told him, Vlad crossed his arms and without looking at me he pondered, "There it is again. During your fits of hysteria you kept beseeching that no matter what I wouldn't allow you to become like _'him.'_ And just a few days ago when I visited your home to gather some intel, I ran into your lovely sister, who by the way is very concerned about you. And while mistaking me for you when she heard a noise in the lab Jasmine told me something that quite frankly took me by surprise-"

Loosing the death-grip I had on my hair, I looked up and asked, "Y-you saw Jazz?"

Vlad nodded, still not looking at me as he silent pulled up his sleeve and -probably thinking I wouldn't believe him unless he did this- activated his communicator to play back a voice recording he took of her voice right after she mistakenly called him by my name. _"I-I know it was dangerous to come back here but if that's you, please come out so I know you're ok. Danny I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you! I know our parents don't like your ghost half, but I n-never thought they w-would-! Danny, l-listen. I know there's probably not much t-time but please...listen to me, if you need a place to go since you and I both know that you c-can't stay at your friends houses then there's only one place where you'll be safe. Our p-parents will find you since they think you k-kidnapped yourself if you try Tucker or Sam's, you know that! I deleted your signature from the Booomarang Danny, because I didn't want mom and dad realizing it could track you or let Sam and Tucker make things worse by going missing too to take care of you. I was...the truth is that I wanted to look for you myself, but that would've only put you in more danger. Please Danny I know you say you hate his guts but he's our only chance! We both know that there's only one person in this town -maybe even the world- that can keep you safe from our parents! If anyone can help, Vlad Masters can. I mean h-he helped you before didn't he? In that other timeline? That's why you know that deep down Vlad really does care and that he'll help you this time too. Danny, please, you know I'm right about this! You need help and Vlad's the only one who can give you that. I-I don't know what else to do Danny, I wish I was older and already moved out then I could hide you, but I'm not, I'm only sixteen. I wish...god I wish we didn't have ghost hunters for parents now more then ever because why did they have to shoot my baby brother?! WHY!? Danny you're always doing the right thing even when no one thanks you, when it HURTS, so why did this have to happen? You didn't deserve to lose everything...but maybe...maybe Vlad can help you get it back. Danny, you care so much about other people that you always put your life and dreams on hold for everyone else's sake, but for once in your life please, let someone save YOU for once. Promise me you'll try to talk to him Danny and ask for help, even if you can't bring yourself to tell him the truth about_ _ _''__ _him.'_ _"_

As soon as the playback ended, Vlad turned to me again, his eyes boring into mine as he asked in all seriousness, "So Daniel, who is this _'him'_ you keep mentioning? From what I have learned, he is from another timeline, but somehow you believe that he still poses a threat to you even now. How is that possible? And more importantly, is he the one responsible for what just happened? For you losing control of your duplicate and for the way you've been behaving? Because frankly we both know that the state you are in now is not solely because of what your parents have done to you. No, this goes much deeper then that and the memory of this being has clearly been haunting you for much longer. What happened regarding your parents merely brought these fears -along with the rest you tried to bury- to the surface. So tell me, how is _'he'_ manipulating you like this? How is he able to control your powers let alone invade your mind in such a way?"

Feeling a familiar pit of dread form in the pit of my stomach knowing I had no choice but to tell Vlad now since he already knew about the other timeline, I did what I could to at least keep him in the dark about Dan actually being MY future evil self and forced myself to answer honestly, "I-I don't know HOW he is doing this, he just is, and that's the scary thing about this guy, he has powers that neither of us do..." I paused, lowering my arms and then rubbing my throat again with one hand, but for a different reason when I recalled that the only reason I knew I had this Ghostly Wail power is because I learned it from my future self, just like I learned how to duplicate thanks to Vlad.

"Daniel?" Vlad asked worriedly, reaching for my hand to pull it away from my neck when I paused and rubbed my throat again, probably thinking it still hurt and deciding that he was going to pour me another cup of tea once we were done talking.

Vlad was still holding my wrist when I swallowed hard again and explained, "This ghost, in an alternate future of ours he had enough power to bring the world -both sides in fact since he took over the Ghost Zone too- to its knees and destroyed basically everything. Amity Park was one of the only places left in the world that was left untouched because it had this mega-ghost shield covering the entire town that lasted at least ten years, but, even that didn't hold him off forever. Eventually he broke through it using the same power I used to defeat him, my Ghostly Wail. To put it simply Vlad, this guy was a nightmare, and one that I barely managed to defeat. In fact, I almost didn't." My face fell and with my free hand I covered my face and fearfully confessed with a shutter when I saw the similarities between his past and my present, "He lost everything in his timeline, his family, his friends, his entire future, so he took it out on the world. I've already defeated him once, but somehow he's still here, and he...he wants me to become just like him. Angry, bitter, resentful, selfish, he wants me to become a heartless monster and follow the same path he did. He's...he's in my head Vlad, and before you got rid of it he actually TALKED to me through my duplicate! You ask me how he's doing any of this but, I DON'T KNOW! I DON'T UNDERSTAND ANY OF THIS! But you wanna know what the worst part is? My family and friends aren't even dead like his are and I was seconds away from giving him what he wanted...becoming a full ghost just like him and drowning out my humanity to escape from the pain. That's why I-!"

"That's why you came to me," Vlad concluded with a small affirming nod. "Your sister is right, it would seem that I AM the only one who can help you. Not just with your parents, but with everything. If you are being targeted by an enemy that even you barely managed to survive your last encounter with, then it's only natural that you would seek shelter from someone more powerful. I understand now..." pulling me forward by the wrist he still held captive, Vlad drew me into a hug and I just accepted it, too tired to resist and too emotionally drained to think of all the reasons I still couldn't trust Vlad, not with everything. Not with this...

"Vlad..." I asked quietly, my eyes drooping unwillingly as his warmth enveloped me. "I need to know something too before I even begin to try and trust you; with my life, with my future. Tell me, why are you doing all of this? Why're you being so...understanding? I thought you hated me for refusing to join you. I thought that I was...obsolete in your eyes, or would have been if you managed to clone me after all to get your _'perfect half-ghost son.'_ Am I nothing but a...investment to you? Are my ghost powers all that matter to you?"

Vlad didn't even hesitate as he held me tighter, the genuine guilt lacing his every word as he told me earnestly, "No Daniel, you are more to me then an investment. Quite the contrary. You are the most valuable thing I have in my life and I care about you quite deeply my dear boy. I always have, ever since we met when I discovered that I wasn't alone anymore either, which is why it pained me so to have you rebel against me at every turn instead of giving me a chance to show you the depths of my love towards you, my need for you. Eventually I grew so blindly desperate to have you by my side as my son that I foolishly thought cloning you was the only way to achieve that, to replace you with some kind of second-rate substitute. I had no way of knowing how little you valued yourself already because your parents couldn't accept your ghost half along with your human side. I hate the fact that I didn't realize it much sooner, otherwise I would have tried to help you instead of belittle you as much as I did during our battles. If only because of this terrible situation, I've learned so much about you little badger. I've learned how hard things were for you already before I selfishly made them worse since the day we met. And most of all, I now know that I am partly to blame for the misfortune that befell you concerning your parents that resulted in your life falling apart. Daniel," burying his face in my in my shoulder, almost desperately he pleaded, "I have never once asked for forgiveness for anything I have done in my life but, I am asking for it now. Can you ever forgive me for driving you well beyond your limits and reawakening this fear in you that has robbed you of the faith you once had in the good in others, your parents especially, and the courage and confidence I've always admired...? I may have fought with you for the past year or so to test your strength and urge you to surpass me, but I have never once wished you dead or wanted you to be afraid of yourself! The fact that you cannot trust me to the point of trying to kill yourself rather then accept my help is more terrifying then when you nearly died in my arms! I can't change what happened between us, nor can I bring myself to forgive your father for his past or present crimes or even your mother's at this point, but I am asking-! No, I am BEGGING you Daniel, please give me a chance to prove to you once and for all that I truly love you like a son. I want to see you feel safe and happy again! All I ask for...is a second chance. A chance for me to make this right whether your old life is still salvageable or not where things to start over between us. Because you are well worth the risk of losing everything that I have little badger, and that is the truth. I need you. I've always needed you. I just didn't know how much until I almost lost you..."


	15. Making Assumptions

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/22/2018):** Again I really hate how the dates I post something keep getting messed up but you know what? It was the 20th and now is the 22st where I live at least so I'm sticking to it! No more date changing just because the site can't tell my timezone or whatever! Also to you _"_ _SleepingBeautyRocks"_ yeah I agree with you, whenever I think of the _'evil'_ Danny I think of Dan. And when I think _'dark'_ Danny I think of the creepy yet alluring young, red-eyed, grim-reaper Danny from the Freakshow episode. Oh man, when that controlled Danny asked how he should scare Sam I think we all swooned hard core! Dan's voice has the same effect which is why it sucks that he only got the one episode. Anyways, onto the next eagerly await chapter!

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Chapter 14: Making Assumptions

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Vlad's POV

After we poured our hearts out -though I had a sneaking suspicion that Daniel was still hiding something- it was clear that Daniel was just barely able to stay awake after awhile. Sadly, there was still much more that we needed to discuss, so as much as I loathed to I urged him to stay awake a little longer. Now that Daniel was healed at least enough to start feeding himself again, to buy some time while I went through scenarios in my head of how to avoid something like this in the future, I removed one of the IV's from his arm but left the other in just in case to help flush out any remaining traces of the infection interfering with his healing powers. I also gave him another cup of tea with an added supplement to help ease the obvious pain in his throat too.

As much as I wanted to coddle Daniel openly from that point on to prevent him from slipping into another bout of depression, I knew that doing so would have the opposite effect. He needed some space; time to think and consider his options when it came to what I was offering him. However, I wasn't a fool either and the fact that on top of everything else there was an evil ghost haunting his mind was something I simply could not ignore...

Therefore it became imperative that I keep a close eye on Daniel without his knowing as usual to ensure that nothing like this could happen again under my roof. In fact I thought it best to actually short out his powers, at least for tonight, to see whether that would prevent this evil entity from taking control of him in his sleep using Daniel's own duplicate as a catalyst to create a physical manifestation to further his aims while his true self was trapped somewhere. But first I needed to do that in a way that wouldn't be too harmful to him.

"Daniel, I know you want to go back to sleep but I don't want to risk another attack on your subconscious while you're resting. So would you mind if we went down to the lab and..." I began when Daniel swayed a little, his blue eyes hazy and unfocused. I sighed. "I suppose you can't answer me anymore, can you? Very well. As usual I must take matters into my own hands."

Transforming into my ghost form, I manually deactivated the shield in his room then phased us both through the floor after removing the other IV as well as the heart monitor on his finger. Once there I carefully eased him into a chair while I floated over to my weapon's vault, unlocked it, then took out the Plasmius Maximus. After a few moments of tinkered with a few settings I turned to look at him, sincerely hoping the pain wouldn't be too intense as usual when I used it on Daniel. In fact I was tempted to test it on myself first just to be sure, but then I thought against since I would need my powers intact if that evil entity made a second attempt on Daniel's life...

Although from the sound of it that wasn't his intention at all. This unnamed being Daniel faced in another timeline wanted to torture Daniel and somehow convince him to abandon his humanity, to become so twisted inside like himself that as a full ghost Daniel would use his powers to bring ruin rather then salvation to the people of this world. I couldn't let that happen. And even though he was still in pain in his body and his heart, I was relieved to know that Daniel realized in time that ending his life wasn't the answer and knew better then to let _'him'_ win, because all hope was not lost, and there was still love in his life worth fighting for. Naturally, that included my own as well, and whether or not he still wanted my help Daniel was going to receive it regardless.

* * *

Lifting Daniel's chin to make him look at me I began searching his eyes for any sign that he even recognized me. But upon finding nothing, I thought I had no choice but to-? Just then, when I was about to jog his memory with a mild shock, his vision suddenly cleared and Daniel blinked at me, moaning, "Oh no, I zoned out again, didn't I? Man...what is wrong with me? Is he messing me up that much or am I just still really sick...?"

Leaning back and letting go of his chin I nodded, "That you did little badger. But frankly I can't say I blame you for being so out of sorts. You've been fighting off a perilously high fever for days now because of the infection attacking your ghost half that was spreading from that bullet wound, which understandably has left you very weak due to focusing what little energy you had to burn it off. On top of that, nearly killing yourself likely sent a rush of adrenaline through your system that has long worn off by now, leaving you even more fatigued then before as a result. Now, before you get any funny ideas as to why I spirited you away to my lab while you were on cloud 9 as it were, since this entity is able to control your ghost powers to some extent, for tonight at least I wanted to ensure that he cannot attack you again. That is why I plan to short out your powers. Because frankly, your body needs the rest and so does your mind. Therefore I am hoping he cannot haunt your dreams so long as he cannot reach them through use of your ghost half's presence. This is only temporary solution to a bigger problem, but it was the best I could come up with at such short notice. I was about to ask your permission to do so before I brought you down but it couldn't be helped..."

Fighting to keep his eyes open Daniel groaned and covered his eyes with one hand, leaning back in the chair, "You know what? I don't even care, just do whatever you have to so I can go back to sleep. I'm so tired Vlad. I really don't how much more of this I can take between what happened with my parents and now this. In the end, even if I do agree to stay here with you long term, what if my parents get fed up with you not finding anything about my ghost-half and make an unexpected house call? What if they burst in and see that I'm with you if I stroll out into the open just when we think it's safe? What if they..."

"Shh, shh..." I urged Daniel gently, stepping closer again and kissed the top of his head then ruffled his hair affectionately, "Don't worry about any of that now. I told you that I'll take care of everything didn't I?"

"Yeah, I guess..." Daniel agreed airily, brushing my hand aside then tiredly leaning forward to rest his head on my chest, weakly reaching for and grabbing my forearms to brace himself for the pain he thought was sure to come. "Alright, before I pass out just do it already. This time, I'll...try to trust you. At this point I'll do anything just to be able to sleep again without any nightmares even for just one more night...just one."

Before I could talk myself out of doing this for his own good, I closed my eyes as I pressed the device to his stomach and grimaced when Daniel cried out in pain and arched his back as the shock coursed through his body. Soon after when I opened my eyes again I saw a familiar pair of twin rings appear at his waist before they faded out of existence. After that, his tired body couldn't take it anymore and he slipped off the chair into my arms and Daniel's exhaustion caught up to him again, causing him to faint. And when I looked down at his frail human form, I honestly wondered if I had done the right thing or if I had only made him more vulnerable.

I was so unsure that I actively debated on whether or not to return Daniel to his room or run a diagnostic on him just to make sure the Plasmius Maximus had still done it's job even at a lower voltage. I needed to run a medical examination on him anyway to see whether or not his condition was healing normally in human form too anyway. So after deciding that I moved Daniel to the examination table instead and took a blood sample, almost automatically performing the examination like I had already been doing these past few days. Of course, most of those examinations had taken place in his room and not the laboratory. But since we were already here though I decided to make use of it...

Too bad I failed to realize how bad that would look to a certain pair of trespassers.

* * *

3rd Person

 _Earlier that day..._

 _After that little slip up with Dash, Jazz was followed relentlessly by Danny's best friends in an attempt to corner her and demand answers she wasn't ready to give. Especially not to those two if only because she wasn't ready to tell them the whole truth. Part of that truth was that Danny might have come home briefly while their parents were gone and disposed of the gun he was shot with to protect himself from further attacks and she actually suggested that out of all the people they knew, Vlad Masters was the most likely the only one who could help him right now._

 _Jazz knew Sam and Tucker would blow a gasket once they heard that part of the story and probably do something stupid like confront Vlad, but Jazz had learned the hard way how dangerous he was not just as the only other half-ghost in the world, but as a man with a devious mind who knew how to bend the system and get away with almost anything. If he really wanted to, Vlad could make her parents disappear, mainly her father once he discovered Jack was the one who shot Danny. He could also get Sam and Tucker into serious trouble as the mayor of Amity Park if they were caught sneaking into his house demanding to know what Vlad knew about her brother._

 _And if he didn't know anything about Danny already by then Vlad, being Vlad, would find some way to turn this situation to his favor and get his hands on Danny while he was weak and emotionally impressionable. Because sure Jazz thought Vlad might be able to help but he had to be approached in the right way. And right now she was too busy pondering just how to do that without her parents finding out and stumbling upon Danny if he had made it there somehow to deal with his overprotective friends..._

" _Gotcha!" Sam suddenly exclaimed, jumping out of the broom closest and dragging a startled Jazz inside while Tucker blocked the door._

" _Ouch! Geez guys!" Jazz snapped, shoving Sam off and brushing off her pants. "I know you want to talk but don't you think this is overkill?"_

 _Feeling a little guilty, before Sam could argue her point Tucker exclaimed, "What else were we supposed to do? You've been avoiding us ever since you ran into Dash the other day! Sam and I thought of straight up hiding in your room after school but come on, even I have standards and don't go around sneaking into other girls rooms! Especially not the room of my best friend's sister!"_

" _Tucker! Ew! I did not need that mental image and neither did Jazz," Sam scowled in disgust before putting her hands on her hips and sighing, "Look, we're worried about Danny too ok? And right now you're the only one who knows what happened. I mean REALLY happened. So please, just tell us so I can stop picturing him bleeding to death in some alleyway! I can't-"_

 _Seeing the other girl tear up again like when she heard what Jazz said out in the hall on the way to class the other day, Jazz put her hands on Sam's shoulders and inhaled sharply. "Alright, I'll tell you but if I do you guys have to promise not to jump to conclusions. You'll only cause a bigger problem for Danny if I'm wrong about this."_

 _Confused, Sam and Tucker gave each other a look before the latter asked, "Wait, you mean you think you know where Danny is?!"_

 _Shaking her head, Jazz admitted, "No, I only HOPE that's where he is because there's only one person who can take care of Danny and keep my parents away from him, especially since he's probably still hurt-"_

" _Still hurt?" Sam asked, her eyes widening in alarm. "No, no! You mean that the ghost your dad shot was actually-!"_

 _Jazz nodded, tearing up herself before dropping her arms to wipe them away before she lost it again. After that she told them the whole story in detail after confirming what happened on the security tapes in the Op-Center. It was horrifying to watch but it was something else that Jazz needed to see before she erased those tapes too, along with every recording they had that actually showed Danny coming home or transforming into Danny Phantom around the house. Thank goodness her parents hardly ever used any of the equipment up there, except maybe her dad using the extra fridge to stash snacks..._

 _It probably wouldn't fix anything really by doing that but maybe if they didn't suspect Danny of being overshadowed by his own ghost for the entire year they might consider that the '_ ghost-boy' _eventually left the real Danny somewhere to save himself or something. Jazz really didn't know what else to do! Her parents were out ghost hunting almost every night, searching for him, and despite Vlad's urging they barely stayed home to take care of her. It was like they were more obsessed then ever BECAUSE Danny was missing and they assumed that he'd been kidnapped, now being held hostage by Danny Phantom._

 _And the sad thing was, that since their portal was still powered down people just assumed Danny Phantom was doing his job and keeping the town even safer so they thought nothing of his absence. Even worse, some people actually seemed GLAD to be rid of Danny Phantom like a certain Valerie Grey who was possessively beaming when she heard the news that the ghost-boy hadn't been seen in over a week now. The girl was so caught up in her happiness that she didn't notice that her friend and former crush Danny Fenton was also missing._

 _Jazz had half a mind to yell at her for being so clueless until Dash spilled the beans and told basically everyone that Danny had been kidnapped by some ghost. When that happened, it almost scared Jazz how Val went from super happy and peppy to almost livid and she came looking for answers from Jazz too but she only told her the version she told Dash to keep the fact that the injured ghost was actually her brother's hero ghost-half a secret._

 _And she didn't even know Val was the Red Huntress either!_

 _All Jazz knew was that Valerie hated ghosts as much as her parents since they cost her dad his original job at Axion Labs until Vlad bought it out and gave him a second chance, though Jazz had no idea why except that the man was interested in their new anti-ghost inventions and wanted to personally keep only the best ones for himself to use against his enemies, though hopefully that didn't include her brother. Basing a lot off of his reaction that one time when she ran away from home and Vlad seemed genuinely happy to have her there, plus the fact that Vlad never hurt Danny too severely during any of their fights when he easily could have, Jazz was putting a lot of faith in the man who could have killed her once too for betraying him. She realized how badly she was in over her head the last time Jazz confronted him but she knew better now. Even so, Jazz wasn't totally unprepared this time because if it turned out that Vlad was still an evil creep then Jazz was willing to throw away her dreams and her life too to keep Danny safe. In fact, she had a back up microchip that still had Danny's ghost signature on it so that she could reinstall into the Booomarang at any time. So if Jazz needed to take Danny and run from her parents, from Amity Park, even from Vlad, she was all-too-willing to do that for her little brother, who one way or another needed SOMEONE to save him._

 _Sadly, when Sam and Tucker heard what Jazz supposedly told Danny, it was Sam who blurted out angrily, "Jazz are you insane!? Why didn't you keep the signature on long enough to make SURE that was Danny? For all you know that wasn't even him you heard, but Plasmius himself, and you just gave him some seriously dangerous information about your brother's situation that he can take advantage of? What were you thinking!?"_

" _UGH! This is exactly why I didn't want to talk to you two about any of this yet!" Jazz snapped raising her arms in a huff, "I knew you guys wouldn't understand! You don't know Vlad like Danny and I do!"_

 _This time, it was Tucker who frowned as he crossed his arms and argued, "Jazz, we don't have to know much about the guy's personal life since we've seen for ourselves how Vlad's always messing with Danny and picking fights with him when he's already exhausted from the rest of his ghost-fighting! Heck, the night Danny went missing he ran into that jerk just when we finished up rounding up all the ghosts on the loose. After that you should have seen the bruises and scratches on Danny's skin, they were all over him and probably some of the worst I've seen on him yet! We almost had to carry him home ourselves like that time when he faced his first ghost at school a few weeks after getting his ghost powers. Lately Danny's been really stressed out because of how tired he is all the time. You're not like your parents. You're not blind so I know you've seen it too. So tell me, how can you possibly think for one second that Vlad will show him any sort of sympathy since he willingly let Danny go home looking like he just got run over by a train? Come on Jazz you're smarter then that!"_

" _Smart?" Jazz scoffed, crossing her arms and glaring at the opposite wall. "If I was that smart I would have run away from home with Danny as soon as I got my driver's license Tucker. You and Sam are Danny's best friends, but you didn't grow up dealing with all of the things we did. I love our parents and they didn't used to be this bad when it came to ghosts but...I dunno something happened and instead of being curious about them they started hating ghost too to the point where if they saw so much as a curtain sway in the breeze they'd scream_ 'ghost' _and blast it to smithereens! They're better about that now but even before Danny got his powers they made all sorts of things that could have hurt Danny if I wasn't paying attention. I had to grow up pretty fast since they were too busy making ghost-fighting gear and weapons to so much as remember to pack Danny a lunch for school that didn't try to eat HIM! At least with Vlad, having powers is normal for him, he understands that not all ghosts are evil even if he often works with ones that are. He knows both sides of the coin while my parents see all ghosts as evil no matter what even if the truth is staring them right in the face, like it was when my father shot my little brother! It wasn't just when he was flying past the house guys, it was point blank...and if Danny hadn't run my mom would have let my dad shoot him again. Guys, she didn't even flinch when Danny started bleeding everywhere. That's why out of the two, who do you think is more dangerous? An enemy that holds back so he doesn't kill my brother? Or two people_ 'good' _people who didn't think twice about shooting a ghost that clearly isn't hurting anyone...? The answer is obvious. I'll choose the lesser evil any day because right now the most dangerous people to my brother right now...are our parents."_


	16. Breaking Point

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 15: Breaking Point

* * *

3rd Person

 _It was now or never. They needed answers and if Jazz wasn't going to give them any then it was up to Sam and Tucker to go get them from the only other person that could provide them. Vlad Masters. Otherwise known to them as Vlad Plasmius..._

 _As if things couldn't get worse with him just being missing, now that they knew Danny was hurt somewhere with a gun wound that blocked and attacked ghost-energy it was their duty to find and rescue him. There had to be SOMETHING they could do, but first they had to find him. Danny's parents were doing the same so the race was on to make sure they found him first since his parents wouldn't understand and would probably kill the human half of him too by mistake._

 _That's why their best bet was Vlad because if he knew how to do anything it was stalk Danny. They found out just how often he did too after the whole Infimap thing when Tucker noticed the tracking device Vlad was using to follow them and reversed it so they could track him instead when Vlad stole the map from them. Anyway, whether Vlad had found Danny yet or not he was bound to have a better idea of where he was and would have gone after him for the same reason. To reach Danny before his parents did._

 _Sure Jazz was probably right about Vlad not wanting Danny to die completely but that was because he wanted Danny to join the dark side and become his evil apprentice. Danny was the only other halfa in the world, and after trying and failing to clone him Vlad must have finally realized what they already knew, he was one of a kind and nothing and no one could take his place..._

" _Well I guess that's one good thing about him downgrading from a creepy castle to a somewhat normal mansion-" Tucker commented when they reached the gate to Vlad's Mansion in Ultra Posh Politer Heights, "Since even he has neighbors now Vlad can't keep his ghost shield on 24/7. Unless we just can't see it. Man, hacking into a tracking device is one thing but an evil mastermind's security system? I hope my baby can handle it." Then he held said PDA close as if dreading to expose it to such evil._

 _Rolling her eyes Sam pointed out, "That's the only reason I broke down and got you the latest version Tucker, it should have more than enough power to take on anything. Just remember that that thing is worth like five birthday presents worth ok? And no I don't care about the money, because if we can use it to save Danny then it'll be worth it. If we're lucky he doesn't have a ghost shield on which means he isn't trapping Danny inside so all we have to do is hack HIS security cameras. I've got the back door covered."_

 _Tucker blinked. "Wait, since when do you know how to bypass a security code?"_

 _With a huff Sam explained, "Tucker, I looked up the blueprints of this mansion before Vlad moved in so I know most of the layout aside from the undocumented rooms like his evil lab and stuff like that. And from I can tell Vlad never upgraded the locks on the doors since, when you think about it, he doesn't need to, his reputation scares off most people who might try to suck up to him. Besides, why use a door when he can just phase right in or teleport into the house with his ghost powers? I bet Vlad only uses the front door to keep up appearances to grab the mail so people don't suspect a thing if they don't catch a glimpse of him every so often. So no Tucker I don't know how to bypass a security code, but-" smirking she pulled a bobby pin and bent it, her violet eyes sparkling mischievously, "-I do happen to know how to pick a lock. How else could I break out of my bedroom when my parents were driving me up the wall when we were kids?"_

" _It starts...you think you know a girl," Tucker laughed as he dramatically sighed and shook his head before putting his game-face back on. "Lets do this, for Danny."_

 _Sam nodded and agreed a little more passionately, "For Danny."_

* * *

 _Once inside, a new sense of urgency returned since they didn't have long before Vlad discovered his cameras had the wrong timestamp on them showing the halls completely empty while he was busy working at City Hall. Unlike most of their enemies -well actually Danny's- Vlad wasn't a total idiot. And that's what made him so dangerous. Yet at the same time, totally predictable._

" _Once an evil villain, always an evil villain," Tucker frowned when they discovered Vlad's first portal behind the painting upstairs, both of them peeking inside. "Well if we need a quick getaway this will have to do."_

" _Uh Tucker?" Sam pointed out, "Need I remind you that unlike Danny WE can't fly? His parents have their whole house on lock down and we can't even try to visit Jazz after school or say that's why we're there since they keep turning us away. Even they'll notice if we took the Specter Speeder again and blame it on Jazz. And she has enough to deal with so I'd feel bad taking it even if it's to look for Danny. With the ghost portal shut down even she can't use it to search the Ghost Zone for her brother."_

 _Pulling their heads out and closing it again, Tucker added, "That's true but if we find Danny he can carry us or at least float all of us in the right direction. Besides, in the Ghost Zone we're the ghosts so as long as we're human even Vlad can't touch us!"_

" _Yeah, unless HE turns human too remember?" Sam argued back, making her friend wince._

" _Good point," Tucker relented. "I guess we'll stick to the whole hide from shadow to shadow approach then once we get what we came for and make a run for it. Might have to-"_

" _Shh!" Sam exclaimed, cover his mouth, "I heard something."_

" _Mhfmnt?" Tucker asked through his muffled mouth._

 _Their blood ran cold when from downstairs in the library, the pair heard a cry of pain that there was no way of mistaking and it made their worst fears a reality and they both gasped, "Danny!"_

* * *

Vlad's POV

As expected the results of the diagnostic revealed that Daniel was suffering from anemia due to how much blood he lost when I first treated his wound, sleep deprivation due to restlessness caused by the nightmares and pain from the morphine wearing off too quickly, dehydration from sweating so much because of his fever, though I was relieved to find nothing else wrong with him at least. Still, I frowned when I saw that his ghost DNA was already becoming active again when I checked his blood sample, which meant that my experiment failed and the low voltage did little to short out his powers after all. I was afraid of this. Because now it meant that I just made him suffer through all that pain for nothing.

"Computer, is Daniel's blood compatible with my own for a blood transfusion? Or will I need to supplement an ecto-restorative to a transfusion using his normal human blood type from another source?" I asked, putting away the blood sample and storing it for further study later.

" _Affirmative. Due to your hybrid status, along with the fact that you share the same blood type, systems show that a blood transfusion is possible. However, there is a 35% chance that his body will reject the blood transfusion unless he is also in ghost-form when administered as a result of conflicting ghost signatures unless the energy is calibrated to match, otherwise your ghost-energy will overpower his and result in unknown complications,"_ The computer replied, pausing for a moment before adding, _"It is suggested that for the best results a substitute for the ecto-infused blood cells be used instead as the chances of complications are reduced to only 12%. Normal blood transfusion without ghost-transformation has a 92% chance of success. Ghost-energy transfusion has a 65% success rate."_

Weighing my options, I mused thoughtfully, "Well at this point the gun wound has healed to a point where there's no more risk of it killing his human and ghost-half since the toxins have been flushed out of his system. Right now we just need to increase his red blood cell count in general and I would rather avoid any more complications. Other then that Daniel needs to catch up on his sleep and drink more fluids, and the latter I can provide through an IV. As for his sleep deprivation Daniel slept best when he was too deep under to have the energy to move let alone dream but I can't keep drugging the boy or he'll become addicted to the sedatives. Mmm, perhaps there is a ghost relic I can use that could help him sleep while blocking out his-"

I froze when my ghost hearing picked up the sound of the door to my lab opening and footsteps rushing down. And fearing the worst I transformed back to my human self and was just about to have my duplicate make Daniel intangible when to my surprise a certain pair of teenagers burst in, their guns pointed at me with angry expressions that only mirrored what I would assume Maddie and Jack's look like when they confronted a ghost.

"Get away from Danny you creep!" Samantha snarled, her violet eyes burning as if she too had ghost powers.

"Yeah, you've really hit a new low man. Taking advantage of Danny while he's down!" Daniel's other friend replied although he didn't seem as confident with his gun as his female companion did.

Quickly getting over my surprise, I calmly rested my arms behind my back, appearing to be unphased by their threat while also genuinely not wanting Daniel to get caught in the crossfire since the examination table was between me and the two teens before me. I was relieved it wasn't Jack or Maddie at least. Although these children stood no chance either if I chose to _'take care of them.'_ Like Jasmine, these two didn't know what they were getting themselves into let alone who they were up against if I ever became serious about silencing them. And despite what they have seen through my battles with Daniel, not once have ANY of them seen me when I'm serious.

Hopefully, they never would.

"In case it has escaped your notice I am TRYING to help him," I began, gesturing at the bandages peeking through Daniel's pajamas. "Now please, lets be civil about this and put the guns away. I don't wish to harm either of you but seeing as you broke into my home I have every right to call the authorities." I smirked since they forgot the simple fact that I wasn't just some billionaire _'evil villain'_ anymore but the one controlling their sad little town as its new beloved Mayor.

"Oh yeah? Well mayor or not this is kidnapping dude!" Daniel's friend, Tucker I believe tried to argue but again it was pointless. I had every answer covered, ever loop hole sealed, and there was nothing they could say to thwart my reasoning any more then Daniel's parents were able to.

Taking a step closer to them, careful to step around the table rather then towards it and cause them to panic if I threatened to hurt Danny to make them lower their weapons, I reasoned harshly, my eyes flashing red in rage at the mere thought of it, "Trust me, his parents committed a worse crime by attempting murder! Jack and Maddie told me the truth themselves, or at least their version of it. Those fools, yes even my dear Maddie, have mistakenly assumed that Danny Phantom is possessing their son and realize the severity of what they have done that harmed Daniel's human self as well. Even now they are hunting their own child not realizing they are one and the same! Confound it all Daniel nearly died because of them! If not for my help he would have!"

Charging up her weapon once Daniel was in the clear, Samantha hissed, "Since when do you care?! How many times have we walked Danny home battered and bruised from a fight with you AND all the ghosts trying to take over Amity Park? Face it Vlad, you're the only one who succeeded to take over since you're both! A human and a ghost that like all the other is always ruining Danny's life! Why can't you just leave him alone? Why did you have to be like all the other stupid grownups that are blind to how much good he does for everyone in this town and how much he has to suffer because of it? He finally had someone to look up to only to have you become his arch enemy! And you chose to be that! You chose to beat up on him and make him feel like even more of a loser then everyone at school does and I hate you!"

"Sam! Calm down, we need to focus on helping Danny!" Tucker tried to reason with her which I was grateful for since we were both fuming.

Rounding on her friend Samantha shrieked, "What does it look like I'm doing Tucker!? Don't you see what he's doing? He's being a manipulative snake as usual and trying to worm his way out of this but not this time! We're taking Danny home and then-!"

"And then what?!" Tucker yelled, surprising us both since he was usually the calmest member of their little group. "Sam, did you ever stop to think of what we're gonna do AFTER we get Danny out of here? He can't go home to Fenton Works, and if Jazz runs off with him too they'll have to run from their parents the rest of their lives! We can't hide them at our houses because Sam, we BOTH had a visit from Mr. and Mrs. Fenton so now our parents know that Danny was kidnapped by a ghost, though at least my parents don't believe it was Danny Phantom. Your parents are kind of on the fence but they don't really like Danny anyway because of his parents weirdness! They're not so heartless as to not care that Danny was supposedly kidnapped but they can't lift a finger to help either! Maybe Jazz was right, as much as I hate to admit it, maybe Vlad doesn't want Danny dead at least and...!"

Trailing off, his green eyes widened in alarm and he grabbed his friend's shoulder after lowering his gun when directly behind me, Daniel slowly rose from the table, gripping his head in pain. Daring a glance back at him, I was about to open my mouth to speak when Samantha raised her gun higher, charging it again as she aimed it at my chest. Then she threatened me using the most poorly chosen wording possible that Daniel shouldn't have heard upon first waking up, "If you value your afterlife, don't you dare move."

His eyes snapping open and the moment he heard that Daniel's glazed eyes turned to her, likely seeing his mother instead and in a blind panic he screamed, "NO! GET AWAY!"

I barely had enough time to react as a wave of raw ecto-energy exploded from Daniel when his eyes turned solid green and he shouted, lashing out in fear to protect himself from a perceived threat. There was no time to completely transform so before the wave reached them and before Samantha could pull the trigger, I teleported towards them in human form and raised a shield around them just as the wave hit and slammed into us. I grunted from the brute force of it because it was as if his body was releasing waves of energy similar to that Ghostly Wail of his. Sadly my lab didn't fare so well as a result. Beakers exploded, electrical devices shorted out, anything not bolted down was sent crashing into the walls or began floating when he encased it in ecto-energy, and all we could do was wait for the waves to subside and for Daniel to get a hold of himself...

"Danny!" his friends cried out, trying to leave the safety of the shield but I wouldn't have it so I ignored them for now and focused on keeping the shield up. Daniel was physically weak right now but since his ghost half thought he was in danger Daniel was letting it all lose at once. And short of knocking him out again...there was nothing I could do without risking his friends getting hurt as an unfortunate result.

* * *

Danny's POV

When I finally snapped out of it, like turning the off switch everything around me seemed to just stop. Heck for a second I thought Clockwork had stopped time again leaving only the two of us able to move but then...I realized that I was in human form, glowing green and levitating a bunch of stuff in Vlad's lab like I was a psychic or something. But no, not a psychic, my evil self could do that too which meant-!

"Danny!" I heard Sam and Tucker cry out and I slowly turned to look at them on their hands and knees, protected under a familiar pink shield with Vlad hovering over them. That's when time felt like it had resumed again and I let my powers fade, climbing off the table and staring at them and Vlad, putting two and two together when I saw the destruction I had caused.

"Sam, Tucker...I...I didn't mean to. I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" I begged, hyperventilating as I backed away slowly, my back eventually hitting Vlad's ghost portal which thankfully was reinforced like most of this room aside from the loose items within. Whirling around I slammed my fists against the portal, as if expecting it to magically open like my parents portal did. I slammed my fists into it until they grew raw and bloody, screaming tearfully, "No, no, no! Please open up! I have to get away before I kill them again! Please open it! Someone! Don't let me kill them again!"

"Daniel stop it!" Vlad snapped, grabbing my wrists and twisting me around to face him again along with my horrified friends. But what scared me was not knowing if they looked like that because they were afraid for me, or OF me.

In desperation, I looked up at Vlad and pleaded, "I can't do this anymore. Please, just get rid of me before I kill them. Before HE makes me! Vlad, you're the only one who can make sure I don't-!"

Shaking me violently Vlad bellowed, his eyes turning red and his body crackling with electricity, "Daniel for the last time I AM NOT GOING TO KILL YOU! We are going to work through this somehow, together! It's alright..." calming down and softening his voice and gaze he pulled me into a hug, pinning my arms to his chest as he continued, explaining the last part at my friends. "They didn't know, and you couldn't control yourself so I kept them safe for you. It's alright...no one was hurt. Not you, and not them."

Unable to escape his death-grip on me to even glance at my friends, I swallowed and asked, "R-really? So, I didn't hurt them?"

"No..." Vlad confirmed before -while still holding me close- he turned to the side and in a dangerously calm tone he told them. "I understand that you were trying to help Daniel but he isn't ready to see anyone yet. This is bigger then just his parents hunting him down and shooting their own son. There is also something quite literally haunting him, something you two know more about then I do concerning some alternate future he and I shared together, so now thanks to that being he is afraid of hurting them as well as yourselves or worse, killing you. That is why the best thing you can do for Daniel is leave this very instant and wait until I reach out to you when and IF I deem Daniel ready to-"

"Danny you-you told him!?" Sam gasped, covering her mouth for a moment before she freaked and I winced, wishing I could cover my ears or tell her to keep a lid on it. "I can't believe you! You told your arch enemy about that creep that he helped create in the other timeline? You told him that in the future you-"

"Sam! Don't!" I begged, struggling to get free from Vlad but to no avail. "You don't get it, I-I had no choice! Vlad's the only one who can help me stop him! I'm not strong enough Sam...I never was...I never will be..." my vision started to blur but I had to tell them, I couldn't pass out now! I had to warn them before Dan took control of me more directly and actually did make me kill everyone in my sleep or something. "I couldn't beat him last time Sam, he almost won even after I trapped him but I realized something after my dad shot me. My...my life is over, Sam. I've lost everything just like he did. But I can't lose you, Tucker, Jazz, or my parents too, not like last time so please, for your own safety you have to stay away from me. Jazz has to stay away too. Everyone has to stay away before he makes me..."

"Dude, I know you're scared but seriously? You're asking us to leave you with Vlad when he's the one who...you know..." Tucker began unsurely but at least he was trying not to tell Vlad the truth I've been avoiding. Still, I could understand why they were worried but it was true, I needed Vlad, just like I needed to know they were safe and alive no matter how things panned out for me in the future...

A future that I was even more uncertain of then ever before.


	17. The Truth Hurts

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/26/2018):** To _"Simonana"_ I saw your review and to be honest I got a little confused at first but then I reread it and I think I get what you're saying. Sorta. This story has been kind of an experiment for me since I usually keep my stories strictly in first person or third and not both. But I wanted to keep the focus on Vlad and Danny and it would have been odd to write about Sam, Tucker, and Jazz from either of their POV's when they weren't there to see what they were doing. That being said, soon that won't be a problem anyway once these loose ends are tied up and Vlad moves Danny somewhere else since Amity Park is too dangerous for him in more ways then one. Thanks for your input though and I'll keep trying to improve! Glad you're enjoying the story too!

* * *

Chapter 16: The Truth Hurts

* * *

Vlad's POV

I was deeply disturbed by the lack of emotion in Daniel's eyes as I cleaned the blood from the wounds on his hands from recklessly bludgeoning the gate to my second ghost portal. His eyes they were just so...lifeless. Of course it didn't help that his little friends had decided to ignore my request and kept hovering over him. Eventually I got fed up with their childish behavior and addressed both teens harshly.

"Alright, enough of this," I began, nodding back at Daniel who merely sat there staring blankly at his newly bandaged hands similar to how he had when we sat on the floor when he first regained consciousness. "As you can see your friend is very unstable so think what you will of me but know this, I have already decided that from this moment on that I will no longer be his enemy. That is not what Daniel needs right now. Especially not now that the odds are against him due to the sad fact that his parents are actively hunting him down, namely his ghost persona. This isn't a game anymore. Surely you both realize that by now otherwise you would not have risked breaking into my home. Now, you have two choices. You can either leave now and by so doing keep Daniel's secret about this _'him'_ from me, which will give Daniel some peace of mind knowing you are both safe from harm should he lose control of himself again. Or, you can linger here and risk me using every trick I know to expose the truth about _'him'_ anyway, so I can find and dispose of this menace myself. In staying here however you are already endangering Daniel by increasing the chances of your own parents finding you gone and calling the police. Either way," towering over them, I told them in no uncertain terms, "Daniel is NOT leaving my side. He needs time to recover and consider his options concerning the current situation with his parents and his future. As I said, what Daniel needs from me now is not an arch enemy he has to aspire to eventually surpass in both strength and wits, what Daniel needs is a rational adult who is willing and able to attend to his needs both physically and emotionally. And seeing as his parents have neglected that duty far longer then I realized, it now falls to me to see to it that Daniel is well taken care of. I am the only person capable of understanding his situation and protecting him from their misguided attempts to save Daniel from what they perceive as an evil ghost possessing his body. Because we all know what will happen should they tamper with something they don't understand this time, someone who is both ghost and human. If they try to remove Daniel's ghost half...he will die. Make no mistake. And none of us want that, especially them, but that is what will happen should they discover that their son is here with me. Therefor, I humbly ask you to keep his present location a secret. Not for my sake, but for his..."

Of course, I could tell that they still didn't trust me so instead Samantha completely ignored me and walked past to gently take Daniel's injured hands in her own and asked, "Danny? Is he telling us the truth? Do your parents really think that you're possessing yourself...?"

Daniel didn't answer Samantha at first and just looked at her blankly, pulling his hands out of hers somewhat reluctantly as if fearing even his touch would hurt her. After that Tucker Foley walked past me too and rested a hand on his shoulder, smiling sadly as he tried to break the tension and added, "Hey dude, before we get into any of that it's good to know you're alive man. We've been worried sick about you! But uh...yeah I guess we never expected to ACTUALLY find you here with Vlad since he's kind of-"

His friend Tucker politely cut himself off when Daniel raised his head and turned to look over at me, asking rather timidly, "Can you give us a minute?"

I frowned.

"Daniel, as much as I would like to give you some privacy I don't-" I began before I too thought better of it and sighed in defeat, "Very well, I will give you five minutes. But if anything happens I will be upstairs if you need me."

After that I turned to leave when Samantha suddenly called out to me and, curious, I turned around to look at her. Biting her lip, Samantha surprised me when she said, "Look, I still don't trust you, but thanks for saving us. You're not totally off the hook yet though buster! You better believe that you have a lot to answer for when it comes to what you've put Danny through, so don't think that saving his life or ours fixes any of that. I meant what I said. I still think you're a jerk and should have been helping him from the start, not being another bully Danny has to put up with. I'd do anything for Danny. Even call out a rich snob like you so don't you forget it!"

Smirking, I replied, "I wouldn't have it any other way. And you? Have you anything to get off your chest Mr. Foley?"

Shifting uncomfortably, Daniel's friend Tucker shrugged and tried to look angry and suspicious of me too but it failed epically since he looked more confused than anything. "Hey I'm with Sam on this, I still think you're hiding something but...as long as Danny's ok that's all that matters to me. He's my best friend. I trust him and if he thinks you can help him then fine, I'll support him. That doesn't mean I won't help Sam make sure you regret it if you pull anything and hurt Danny as much as you did when you tried to clone him. That was beyond messed up, even for you dude."

I rolled my eyes, "Well, I shouldn't expect a teenager to understand why I took things so far but yes, I suppose that's one more thing to add to my list of crimes. At any rate, you have three minutes left so I suggest you use them wisely."

"What?! You never said you already started counting down!" Tucker exclaimed, but in response I merely smiled wider and left them with Daniel against my better judgment to wait upstairs in the library.

I felt confident that they couldn't convince him to leave but, part of me still worried they might. Even so I also wanted to show Daniel that he could trust me so it was a small sacrifice I was willing to make to prove it. Aside from that, another small piece of the puzzle had fallen into place due to their emotional outbursts for me to ponder...

For one thing, Daniel exclaimed something about killing them _'again'_ which led me to believe in this other timeline that being -whose name I STILL did not know- used him to cause the deaths of his loved ones. And more troubling still, they seemed to believe that I was responsible for creating said being. So did that mean I created a successful clone of Daniel with some sort of telepathic link to the original that perchance went mad and destroyed both worlds? But if it was a clone, how could a clone _'lose'_ anything when it had nothing to begin with? Or worse...did I attempt to recreate the accident and exposed some innocent child to a ghost portal and-

"No, even in desperation I would NEVER expose someone else to the same horror that Daniel and I went through, if I did then I would be the one who was truly mad..." I reasoned, having reached the top of the stairs where I checked my watch.

Their time was already up or would have been if I had indeed started counting down but I mostly said that to keep them on their toes and remind Daniel's friends that they were unwelcome guests in my home. Speaking of which, how did they even get inside? Unless...of course, I must have forgotten to turn the outer shield back on after Daniel's last episode.

If I was uncertain about my choice before, because of this other unfortunate incident I wasn't anymore. In light of recent events I was almost certain that Amity Park was no longer safe for Daniel. The risk of him being discovered by his enemies, his parents included, while he was so emotionally unstable was far too great. My job as mayor was tedious at best and had all but lost it's appeal. It wasn't as if my original motivations for taking the job were that honorable to begin with and now Daniel's situation was a more pressing matter. I already told Jack and Maddie that I was considering stepping down anyway which would then allow me to focus on helping them find their son. Not to mention return my attention back to personally managing and running my businesses, since even I was finding it rather monotonous to keep juggling all three tasks at once. Or so I told them. That's why there was no reason for either of them to suspect anything else was going on, and they were the ones I needed to fool most of all. So that left only one other person I needed to convince of my intentions moving forward in order to avoid any further complications or unexpected visitors...

Jasmine Fenton.

* * *

Danny's POV

I hated having to lie to Tucker and Sam when they risked facing Vlad's wrath in order to save me, or at least find out if he knew where I was hiding out from my parents. But still I just didn't have the heart to tell them that what happened just now actually wasn't my first attempt to end my life. It was my second...

The terror I felt when I realized what I had done was way more intense then last time. Because unlike earlier this wasn't something I was doing to myself. No, they were both right there in front of me when I lost control. Two of the most important people in my life besides my parents and my older sister. If it wasn't for Vlad I could have killed them right then and there by mistake. It was only thanks to Vlad that I managed to calm down without hurting myself too badly once he told me that I didn't hurt them. He...he saved them for me. He saved them FROM me, and I'm not sure if Vlad could even begin to imagine how much that meant to me.

Not that it mattered because in the end we hadn't really solved anything since his plan to short out my ghost powers to block out Dan's influence didn't work. Instead I woke up only to have another panic attack when Sam repeated the exact same words my mom said when she threatened me at gunpoint too. But obviously Sam didn't know that, so it wasn't her fault her poor choice of words set me off.

In the end, it looked like Dan didn't even need to mess with my mind to make me dangerous to the people I cared about. I was already a monster. A freak. My parents were right about me. Even Vlad was right when he said I was only fooling myself when I told everyone that I was a hero. Really, because of my ghost powers I probably hurt more people then I saved when they were caught in the crossfire, including the ones who mattered to me the most. The people who are always exposed to constant danger because of me. So if I wasn't around, they would be safer...right?

Not that I wanted to die or anything like that. I wasn't going to do something as stupid as sacrifice myself, I just wasn't thinking straight again, that's all. What happened earlier with Dan already proved that I wanted to keep on living, no matter how painful it was. It's just that the thought of hurting my friends and family because I was freaking out...well...it freaked me out! I felt relieved though when Sam and Tucker came closer and from what I could tell they didn't seem scared of me. Although that didn't make what I was about to do any easier.

* * *

Vlad's POV

I was taken aback when I heard the door to my lab slam shut and what I could only assume were Samantha's heavy boots as she began stomping up the stairs. Well that certainly didn't bode well for Daniel. They had at least a minute or so left to talk which meant that something he told them must have sparked an argument with his friends. Shortly afterwards my ghost hearing picked up a pair of angry voices echoing up the stairwell as Mr. Foley tried to reason with her, though obviously she would have none of it.

"...get what you're saying Sam. And while it doesn't make any sense to me either we gotta respect Danny's choice on this. We can't force him to change his mind."

"Whatever, this is all HIS fault anyway. You said it yourself, Vlad CLONED him, which was all kinds of messed up in the head so who knows what other depraved things that lying snake has done to Danny that we don't know about or has considered doing to make Danny even CONSIDER staying under the same roof as him. Especially when Danny KNOWS what happened the last time this happened. Well I'm not gonna sit here while Danny digs his own grave Tucker. If he trusts Vlad over us then fine, let him!"

At a loss for what else to say to her, Mr. Foley fell silent knowing this was a losing battle. And when they made it into full view at the top of the stairs Samantha stomped past me, her fists clenched, looking terribly red in the face in a fit of pure anger. Meanwhile her friend Tucker was right on her heels when he unfortunately slammed into her back when Samantha abruptly stopped inches away from where I now stood, watching their progress...

If it had been towards anyone else, the absolute disgust and loathing in her violet eyes would have made anyone wither beneath the heat of her gaze. But not Vlad Masters. I simply stared back at her indifferently, arms behind my back while remaining as calm and eloquent as ever. Though, just to be petty I flashed her a wicked smile knowing I had won over Daniel despite her obvious efforts to convince him how evil and malicious I still was. Though to be fair, my reasons for lying now were for his own good and not to ensnare him in some trap as usual, and I for one didn't care what Samantha or Mr. Foley thought of me so long as they couldn't change Daniel's mind about giving me a chance to save him from something far more foreboding. That was all that I cared about. Not the approval of his narrow-minded friends.

After shooting me one last nasty look, Samantha turned and trained her eyes on the front door as she ordered her friend coldly, "Come on, hurry up Tucker, the sooner we leave this place the better. I can't stand to even look at him right now."

Sounding defensive and genuinely angry this time, Mr. Foley picked himself up off the floor and asked harshly, "Whose face are you talking about Sam? Vlad's, or Danny's?"

Without looking back at either of us, Samantha's reply pained my heart if only because of how much I knew it would have hurt Daniel to hear it when her simple yet ruthless answer echoed throughout the room. "Yes."

* * *

And with that they left my mansion without another word. Leaving me standing there alone in total shock as I was greeted again by silence. I knew they might not agree with Daniel but, the absolute disregard for his feelings, their lack of understanding about how difficult this decision actually was for him to make, baffled me. True, I had given them no reason to trust me either, but surely they trusted Daniel's judgment at least? Mr. Foley was at least trying to be supportive of his best friend whereas Ms. Manson's behavior just now was for lack of a better term alarmingly brutal. As much as I often admired willful and strong-minded women there was a distinct difference between stubbornness and pride in one's beliefs. I hated to think that Samantha too was so set in her ways that she couldn't accept Daniel's choice since it conflicted with her views.

Regardless, at least those two brats were out of my hair now. Not to mention it was dangerous to leave Daniel alone so I opted out of walking back down and teleported into the lab instead. And when I found him, Daniel was sitting on the examination table again, covering his face with his hand while sucking in deep shaky breaths as he fought the urge to cry since he had no more tears to shed...

I meant that quite literally too since Daniel was still severely dehydrated and much to my dismay he was shivering again, which caused Daniel to lift his head out of his hand to use them both to rub his arms to stop the shaking. After his ghost sense went off when I teleported Daniel paused to look at me, shivering again and he squinted, clearly having difficulty keeping me in focus. With a heavy sigh I wordlessly strode up to him and brushed his hair back to feel his forehead.

"Daniel, you're burning up again. All of this added stress really is doing a number on you little badger. What do you say we forgo any questions for now and get you back to bed, hmm? I'll give you something to help you sleep again for at least one more night since our other plan failed it seems," I knew Daniel was dreadfully upset about happened with his friends, and also that I wanted answers more then ever, but I was a patient man. And more importantly I had to get his fever back under control again before it worsened.

"Why doesn't anyone understand?" Daniel asked me despairingly, sounding as if he was asking himself the very same question.

Feeling sorry for him, I stroked his hair back again tenderly and replied, "Give it time Daniel, I'm sure you can come to an understanding with them eventually. This isn't like with your parents. They know the truth already. You just have to give them time to come to terms with it. Unfortunately they feel betrayed by your choice even though it was yours to make and not theirs. Your friends want what's best for you but frankly even they do not know what that is. I do though. And I swear to you Daniel I will find a way to get your life back on track and return some normalcy to it. For now though we need to get your fever to go back down, which ironically I think I know of a new way to do just that."

Taken off guard by my oddly cheery attitude Daniel blinked slowly and asked me suspiciously, "What're you talking about?"

Hoping to distract him with the idea of learning something new about his ghost powers, I smirked and pointed at his heart, asking, "Tell me Daniel, have you ever wondered why your ghost sense comes out cold...?"


	18. Loose Ends

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (03/30/2018):** To _"Sleeping BeautyRocks"_ listen, like I said before I'm always really happy to see reviews and possible story suggestions but trust me, I already have BIG plans for the Dan reveal later in the story so we're covered in that department. Revealing him too soon would only kill the suspense, because knowing Vlad he won't just sit around. Vlad would go looking for Dan to dispose of him and the threat he poses once he knew that destroying him won't effect Danny, which again would ruin the build up for when he DOES show up. Danny already figured that part out too. Dan needs him to exist, but Danny doesn't need him since his future isn't set in stone. I hope that helps you understand where I'm coming from from a writers POV. And to _"Simonana"_ I also appreciate your input and general writing tips too but uh, this is just a fanfiction. Yeah sure, I really want it to be as good as possible but at the same time I'm not going to worry too much about the finer details when it comes to flawless story writing since I'm mostly doing this for fun and just practicing some new techniques. Lastly, to clear up what you were talking about with Danny and Vlad's POV in this story it is in present view so we are with them right as things are happening. Anyways that's about it for now so enjoy the next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 17: Loose Ends

* * *

Danny's POV

As if I didn't feel crappy enough after Sam went off on me after I told them about my truce with Vlad, not to mention about Dan or somebody else messing with my head making me see him all over the place was making things harder for me too. But since my fever decided to flare up again I also felt way too hot and yet freezing cold at the same time so whatever Vlad was going on about with my ghost sense I really wasn't in the mood for it. And I told him as much too.

"Look, Vlad, I get that you're excited to do the whole student mentor thing but...that's not why I'm here so don't get the wrong idea. Did you not SEE what just happened? Now even my two best friends have turned on me! No matter what choice I make it's always the wrong one and I'm sick of it!" Shrugging him off again I stood up, wobbly walking towards the stairs, leaning against the wall for support. "Vlad I don't need a teacher...I need help. And who knows, maybe they're right, maybe I was stupid to ask for it from you of all people. Maybe I AM digging my own grave, but who else do I have left to turn to anymore? Who else can I trust not to screw me over when I can't even trust myself at this point?" Scoffing, I muttered under my breath, "Some hero I turned out to be. Can't even save myself and has to resort to asking my arch enemy for-"

"Stop," Vlad ordered, striding forward until he was right behind me and I could practically feel the heat radiating off him as he towered over me menacingly. "Stop that this instant Daniel because I will NOT stand for your slanderous accusations under my own roof. Perhaps you didn't hear me when I told your little friends that I no longer wish to play the role of a villain in your life. Now look at me."

"You're not my dad, you can't tell me what to do," I replied without thinking only to yelp when Vlad grabbed my shoulders and whirled me around to face him, his eyes not glowing red but they were narrowed and Vlad was obviously miffed about what I just said.

"No, I am NOT your father," Vlad began glaring at me harshly, " _I_ did not shoot you. _I_ did not chase you out. _I_ did not almost KILL YOU. Instead I gave you shelter and protection. I brought you back from the verge of death. And now I am trying to help you hopefully recover all that you have lost, or at the very least offer you a chance to live a better life free from fear and prejudice. Is this really how you want to thank me? With contempt and doubt?"

Closing my eyes since looking at Vlad only made me more anxious I replied hopelessly, "I know that. But Vlad...you can't expect me to change how I feel about you overnight, just like I can't expect you to change how you feel about my dad. You can tell me that I matter more to you then your revenge, more then all of your money, but how do I know those aren't just more empty words Vlad? My parents said they would love me no matter what. Yet...if what you said is true then my dad basically wrote me off as dead already. And now he figures that if they can't _'save me'_ from the big bad Danny Phantom then it's his job to finish what he started and put an end to my misery. That's what you said he was eluding to over the phone, right? Then to top it all off my two best friends came to save me but when they found out I decided to give you a chance, they gave up on me too. Even though I told them that this is about more then just running from my parents. Whether the evil ghost I told you about really is the one responsible for messing with my head or not it doesn't change the fact that I can't handle this by myself, not this time, it's too much! Do you have any idea how hurt and betrayed I felt when Sam and Tucker left me here by myself just because they couldn't accept my choice about admitting that I do need your help? Do you have any idea what it felt like to be told that they think that you're turning me evil just because I'm even considering it? I thought they trusted me. And even though _I_ trust them, I couldn't bring myself to even tell THEM everything about what I really think and how I feel. Because that's just it, I have no idea HOW I feel! About you or any of this! Even now I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that my entire life is OVER and I can never go home or see my family again! None of you understand! Everything I ever hoped to become someday, everything that made me who I was is gone, destroyed, like all of my hopes for having a future that wasn't screwed up because of some ghost! So how can you ask me to do the same, to trust you when unlike with everything else I'm uncertain about right now I know for a FACT that you've twisted the truth, tricked me, USED me, and lied to my face who knows how many times? But despite what you think I AM trying to trust you Vlad, I really am, but how can I when it feels like EVERYONE I thought I could count on for help has turned their backs on me? If I'm ever going to trust anyone again, I need more time," my eyes snapped open, a thought striking me but I couldn't let Vlad know what I was thinking so I covered it up by continuing, "Look, you want me to trust you? Then you can start by trusting me a little too and give me some time to process all this. That's all I ask. You said it yourself, if we can't even trust each other with the little things then this truce is never going to work, and I might as well leave now and take my chances out there. Either way my trust has to be earned, Vlad. There are no shortcuts and tricks that you can use to make that happen because then none of it will be real. And I need someone I can count on, someone genuine. That's why I need to know that I can count on YOU. Because if I can't even do that...then _'he'_ has already won." _Because if you're really all I have left then I know how this ends for us, and I'm not going to be held responsible for your life falling apart because of someone else's mistake, including mine..._

Obviously I kept the past part to myself but by the time I was finished I was breathing heavily. Crap, my vision was getting blurry again too. Right after I thought that my legs gave away and it was only because Vlad was still holding me that I didn't collapse entirely as he followed me down to the floor. When I looked up at Vlad again he looked worried, his anger melting away when he remembered that my fever was back and I was still anemic, not to mention emotionally drained from all the non-stop chaos this evening...

Vlad must have figured as much too and helped me back up with a sigh. "Alright Daniel, I'll relent on this one because you do make some valid points. Perhaps I was being a tad hasty. You need rest and you need space but, can you blame me for being concerned? I did not go through all of the effort to save your life only for you to take it yourself. I am trying to help you, Daniel, as difficult as my methods are for you to understand. You need to let me since I don't want to keep forcing you because every time I do you rebel against me. And perhaps I didn't explain it every well, about your ghost core I mean. If it is a cold-core as I suspect we can use that energy to regulate your temperature until the fever goes down again. I wasn't talking about using them for any other purpose as of right now."

I sighed in relief, giving him a weak smile that felt more like a slight twitch in the corners my lips as I quipped, "See? Was that so hard? Being honest?"

Rolling his eyes, Vlad ignored my sassy remark and said, "In any case, I think that's quite enough excitement for one evening little badger. And since our previous plan didn't work it looks like I'll have to sedate you again. Is there...any way you'd prefer me to do it?"

"Seriously? You're asking me my preferred method of getting knocked out?" I asked in disbelief, struggling to keep him in focus. "You're the expert here, just pick the fastest less painful way...and...do..." I trailed off, confused when I already felt woozy again and he scooped me up into his arms as I wondered, "Huh...? What did...you do...? I don't..."

"Oh please Daniel," Vlad smirked knowingly, walking up the stairs carrying me as if I weighed nothing as he arrogantly explained, "I haven't done a thing, your body already knows what it needs so just let it happen naturally. I'll give you the sedative once you're already asleep so you don't have to trouble yourself over the how and why. Sound fair?"

Resting my head on his chest because it took too much effort to keep it up on its own, I grumbled, "Stupid fruitloop...there you go again, making me feel...like an...idiot..."

Whatever else Vlad probably said after that was lost on me when everything faded back into darkness. Well, so much for my fever breaking since it was back with a vengeance. But at least I knew at least a few things now that helped, and I clung to them with all my might to make sure I wouldn't lose sight of what really mattered. I might not trust Vlad entirely, but little by little I could tell he was trying to prove himself to me which is what I needed to know. I don't care about what Vlad says, or what all of his promises are, as long as I can see him acting on them for once to prove that they're real. Aside from that maybe Vlad was right, once Sam and Tucker cooled off now that they knew I was alive and as safe as I was gonna be at this point we could try talking this out again. Besides, after talking to them I remembered that Vlad wasn't ALL I had left, there was still Jazz, and if nothing else they'd let her know I was alright even if they are mad at me. Just knowing that made me feel a little better. As for the rest...all I could do was make sure that no matter how hard things got that I would never give up again. All I needed was more _'time'_...

Translation, if any of this really had to do with Dan, then I needed Clockwork. But in order to do that I needed to get better, get stronger, and find a way into the Ghost Zone without my parents or Vlad finding out. So now it was my turn to play the waiting game either way and try to keep myself sane. Easy right? Just make sure that neither Dan or Vlad drive me insane before I can get to the bottom of all this.

* * *

Vlad's POV

"And we're right back to square one," I glowered after once again hooking up all the medical equipment to monitor Daniel's heartbeat and took his temperature once we reached his room on foot and I tucked him into bed. "You never make taking care of you easy, do you little badger?"

Muttering a low curse when the thermometer read a fever of at least 103 degrees Fahrenheit I brought back the extra blankets I removed when his fever had broken and covered him again to keep Daniel warm. Because while his skin was ablaze with fever, the rest of him was wracked with shivers again. True his fever wasn't nearly as high as before but the fact that it returned so quickly was terrible news. He couldn't keep this up for long since unlike myself he was just a boy and frankly didn't have the fortitude to handle such high levels of stress and sleep deprivation without serious consequences whether he was half-ghost or not...

As for those two brats who were responsible for Daniel taking a turn for the worse again, I decided that they were in need of some proper punishment. Therefore, before I went to bed I called both of their parents in turn and told them of their _'attempted'_ break in because they were concerned about their friend. To be a gracious mayor despite wishing to punish them more severely, I told them I would leave their children with a warning because the next time they did anything of the sort I would have them removed from the premises and this would be put on their permanent records.

I may care for Daniel, but those two were fair game and asked for it! As if his parents hurting him wasn't enough, they too just had to- _RING!_ Feeling rather jumpy which was new for me, I nearly dropped my cell phone and clutched it to my chest, teleporting out of the room for fear the noise would wake Daniel before looking at the caller ID. I didn't recognize it but something told me no mere stranger would dare call me at this late hour and I had plenty of security measures to prevent spam callers from reaching me, so who in the world could this be?

Recomposing myself, I let it ring twice more before answering it, "Mayor Masters speaking. And who might-!"

I was interrupted by a familiar sniffle and not unlike before her cracked voice meekly replied, _"Vlad? We need to talk. It's important."_

"Jasmine? How did you..." I asked, astonished and dare I say even impressed that she managed to track down my private number. Still, I got over it quickly and was about to tell her to call back in the morning when I was in a better mood when she took advantage of my silence and blurted out.

" _Vlad it's about my brother Danny. I know my parents asked you to help us but since you and I know the truth about him, even if you did find him -or already have- you couldn't tell them. Not that you'd want to and this time I can't blame you. I've...been thinking about this a lot and, look, I know I messed up before when I tricked you that time but just hear me out! I'd do anything for Danny, which is why I wanted to talk to you before I make my decision,"_ There was a pause as she took a deep breath and told me, or rather pleaded, " _I'm not asking for much, just a chance to talk to you face to face and...apologize for what I did to you. I was wrong. I just...wanted so badly to prove that I could help Danny ghost fight too but...tricking you was- you didn't deserve that. I'm sorry. So please! Help me find my brother before my parents end up killing him! This is serious, last night they actually destroyed a ghost and were covered in ectoplasm and I thought-! I thought they got Danny and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it ever since. I know you two fight and you make out like you're a heartless creep but that's a lie, you do care, otherwise why would you keep trying so hard to get my brother on your side? You're powerful Vlad, more so then I thought when I did what I did but you never used it to destroy Danny or even my dad, not seriously. That's why I want to make a deal with you, because at this point...I trust you more then our parents. Because Vlad, they will kill my brother if they find him first. And that's what scares ME to death. Surely you feel the same way as I do...don't you? If there's one thing I've learned about you Vlad since that time I came to you, is that family is the most important thing to you. It's what you want the most. And if you care about my brother more then my parents do, then I will do what's best for him, even if he hates me for it later..."_


	19. Reconciliation

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 18: Reconciliation

* * *

Vlad's POV

In the end after waiting for her to calm down I told Jasmine to come to the mansion first thing in the morning, as it was already after midnight when she called me. I also asked how she even got a hold of my number because while I was impressed by her ingenuity, I would probably have to either fire the head of my security team for leaving such an obvious opening in my firewalls, or make sure they fixed this oversight right away. Nothing against Jasmine of course since I knew the reason behind her desperation. From the sound of it, Jack and Maddie were taking things too far as they grew more frantic in their search for Daniel, ignoring my repeated warnings of the risk they were facing of losing their daughter too. Jasmine was terribly afraid of what would happen if they did find her brother, it haunted her every waking hour from the sound of it. And it was very likely that in order to save him from their ill-conceived attempts to free Daniel from the thrall of this ghost -who was actually just another part of himself- Jasmine would be forced to tell them his secret. Hoping that that would be enough to make them stop before they did something far worse and decided to _'put him out of his misery.'_

I truly admired Jasmine for what she did just now, much like how I was impressed when she walked in on me down in her parents laboratory and then boldly declared her true feelings about me and my relationship with Daniel. I now fully understood that when she allegedly ran away from home some months back Jasmine was only trying to prove herself to the little brother she admired. She did it all out of love. And that small glimpse I saw of her life, how much of it centered around taking care of Daniel, proved to me the depths of her love and loyalty to him. The simple fact that unlike her parents Jasmine could admit that she was wrong spoke volumes to me.

Jasmine was a sensible girl, resourceful, kind, and loyal to a fault, and it wasn't until now that I realized how much of a motherly figure she had become in order to take care of her little brother. To look out for him when his parents could not put aside their ghost hunting nor inventing to do so themselves. No wonder she detested their profession. In fact the only reason Jasmine was even remotely interested in ghost hunting at all was because Daniel gave her a better reason to get involved with it herself, namely to ensure his continued safety.

When I met Jasmine at the reunion it was clear that she wanted nothing more then to seize this rare opportunity to escape from her parents for the duration of it, which Jasmine succeeded at obviously as I do not recall seeing her at the party. Being the youngest though Daniel was forced to attend. I immediately spotted him sitting alone and poor Daniel seemed bored out of his mind, and we couldn't have that now could we...? Not when the real festivities were about to begin. By then I already knew his secret and carefully laid out a trap for the young ghost hybrid, seeking to exploit my discovery later and get him out of the way while I humiliated his father, hoping not only to ruin Jack's life, but to also obtain the companionship I so longed for with Maddie as well as in another way I never thought possible. To think that the only other halfa in the world showed up at my castle of all places as if fate brought us together, who happened to be the son of my most hated rival...

Yet, fate had played a crueler hand on the boy then I realized at first because I was too blind to see it.

Returning to the matter at hand, last night Jasmine did something Daniel's friends and even his own parents could not, she swallowed her pride and showed me respect instead of attempting to force me into assisting her. No, Jasmine was ASKING for my help. Jasmine was looking for a chance to speak with me, risking doing so alone and unarmed even though she was well aware of what I could do to her now to ruin her life using my authority and ghost powers alike. Contrary to what I told her about the nanobots in her blood however -which I had long since deactivated and destroyed since they were useless without the Ecto-Suit- while it was true that they could have caused her a great deal of pain, as I said before I'm no murderer. And neither am I that cruel to someone who stood no chance against me that either didn't deserve hostilities of that degree from me or as was the case with her at least, her intentions were noble albeit very reckless.

However, it's still true that I do not take kindly to betrayal or being slighted. What I did back then, or at least threatened to do, was a warning to ensure that Jasmine would never deceive me in such a way again. For a brief moment I even seriously considered adding her to my plans for the rest of the Fenton family once Maddie left Jack for me. After all Jasmine is just as much Maddie's daughter as Daniel is her son. But considering her betrayal now I wasn't so sure. Admittedly I was as overeager for love and acceptance as ever when Jasmine came to my doorstep in tears and the sight of them melted my heart as assuredly as Maddie's would have. So without thinking I eagerly lept at the chance to welcome Jasmine as part of my family, because surely she could have helped me convince Maddie I would have made a far better husband and father to her children then that imbecile Jack.

Although, perhaps now I had no choice but to face the reality of that as well. My beloved Maddie, she simply wasn't the woman I thought she was. For as astute as she is as a scientist, Maddie was also oblivious to the plights and suffering of both her children. So much so that it pained my heart realizing that she was just as irresponsible of a parent as her husband. With Daniel gone, now even Jasmine was being neglected. She was left alone in their home while they went ghost hunting to cry herself to sleep at night, suffering horrific nightmares of witnessing her precious little brother's demise at their hands. A fear that if all went well I could spare her from...

Unlike Daniel's friends Jasmine still didn't know that he was already here with me. As such poor Jasmine was at her wits end, plagued with worry since she hadn't heard from her brother since their supposed encounter while he was invisible, which was actually me. If nothing else, I was willing to extend to her the same courtesy Jasmine extended to me to hear her out. Especially since I had no idea what she was going to offer in exchange for my aid...and I must say I was curious to find out.

* * *

Sadly due to the return of Daniel's fever I was forced to give him a blood transfusion with an added ecto-restorative as suggested by my super computer. I also had to continue giving him fluids and nutrients through the IV, at least for now. Thankfully his fever wasn't nearly as bad as before but it was still robbing Daniel of precious strength, and he looked as placid and sickly as ever.

I hated seeing him like this.

I wanted Daniel to get better again; I wanted him smiling and soaring through the air like he owned the heavens and nothing could hold him down anymore; I wanted the young courageous hero back that was confident and could take on almost any foe that came his way; but most of all, I wanted my little badger back from the day we met before I knew his secret whom I could tell looked up to me as plain as day. There was no greed or hidden motives in his eyes, just awe and pure admiration, which gave me all the more reason to feel jealous of Jack for having such a wonderful family. A family that by all rights should have been mine...

At the rate things were going I may very well get my wish of having Daniel stay with me from now on. Because Jack was the one who betrayed Daniel first, without me pulling the strings, whereas Daniel has remained ever loyal and faithful to his father to the very end. Regrettably, because of all that has transpired between them Daniel feels guilty, confused, hurt, but most of all extremely conflicted about how he should respond to this near-death experience since it was at the hands of his own parents. After all, Maddie was just as guilty of allowing her husband to pull the trigger as Jack was of using that weapon in the first place. Truth be told I've always held back for the most part during my battles with Daniel, but Jack didn't, and this time it nearly cost Daniel his life. And you can bet I was never going to let Daniel go back into such a dangerous household unless I deemed them worthy of being allowed into his presence again. Negligence was one thing, but as I told Daniel's friends, attempted murder, accidental or not, was unforgivable and their heinous act had deeply scarred Daniel's heart and mind in ways none of them could fathom, exposing much deeper wounds in turn.

That's why if the chance arose I would attempt to ask Jasmine about this mysterious ghost that Daniel and his friends cannot even mention by name. Even she had yet to utter it. Either way, it was almost time for Jasmine to arrive so out of habit, I checked Daniel's vitals again, turned on the shield, and went downstairs to await her arrival. In the meantime, I compiled a list of questions to ask her and terms for how we were to deal with their parents. Especially if things have grown so dire for her that even Jasmine no longer felt at ease staying there anymore. I might not care for her the same way as Daniel, but I did care just as she herself said and I was not going to leave Jasmine at the mercy of her parents negligence either. Besides, helping Jasmine will almost certainly get me into Daniel's good graces if saving his friend's lives wasn't enough.

"Those ungrateful little rats," I frowned, recalling Samantha's crass behavior most of all. "It is one thing for them to be disrespectful to me but to accuse Daniel of becoming evil..."

I shook my head, dismissing such thoughts when at long last the doorbell rang and I rose to my feet to answer it. I had to do a double take when I saw her because Jasmine looked much worse off then before. Red eyes from crying was one thing but there were dark circles under her eyes and to my surprise...Jasmine's long hair, since when was it cut so short? Squinting, I realized she only had it in a ponytail and I pinched the bridge of my nose, wordlessly ushering her inside then shutting the door behind us. _I must be more tired then I thought. Then again I only got three hours of sleep at most after attending to Daniel and procuring his blood type from the local hospital for his first transfusion. It's not as if I keep blood-bags on hand like some vampire._

Once inside, I motioned for Jasmine to follow me and neither of us said a word until we sat down in my private study. Finally looking at her, I decided to begin our discussion cordially in order to put Jasmine's mind at ease since she appeared to be unbelievably tense and about ready to jump out of her skin if I moved or spoke too quickly. It reminded me of my poor cat Maddie who at the moment was still hiding somewhere in the mansion, too afraid to come out due to the tension in the air even to curl up with Daniel like she did the first few days I was treating him. A shame too, since I'm sure Daniel could use her comforting presence again at this trying time.

"I must say my dear, you've looked better. Is there anything I can do for you before we get started? Some tea perhaps?" I smiled fondly at her, recalling that she enjoyed the tea we shared last time and mentioned how she always wanted to try rose tea, which would certainly help her nerves.

Looking at me a bit unsurely, she nodded and tried to look grateful despite how much effort it took to look anything but tired and listless. "If it's not too much trouble. Thank you Mr. Masters."

"Of course," I nodded back, raising from my seat and gently resting a hand on her shoulder, relieved when she didn't flinch away from my touch as I paused to glance down and tell her, "I understand that it must have taken a great deal of courage on your part to come speak with me without the consent of your parents, let alone apologize to me over the phone as you did last night. Though I would imagine you wish to give me a proper one here in a moment which I would greatly appreciate, especially seeing as I would like to give you one in return. Jasmine, I was wrong to frighten you the way I did when I made you fight your brother while wearing your father's Ecto-Suit then threatened to do you bodily harm when you betrayed me. When you revealed your true motives behind coming to me I had assumed you saw me as an evil man too and wanted to expose me, but now I understand that it was all for Daniel's sake. Which is precisely why you are here now. I can respect that. For we are of the same mind and want what is best for Daniel. Which reminds me-" I didn't want to make any accusations, but I needed to be sure she wasn't in on whatever Daniel's friends had planned when they broke in last night and asked, "Have you heard anything from Samantha or Mr. Foley this morning?"

Without looking at me she shook her head, blinking away tears, "No, I've been avoiding them since they pulled me into the broom closet at school and made me tell them what my parents did and why Danny is missing. T-the whole school already knows that my parents think that Danny was kidnapped by a ghost because I ran into Dash, blurted out the same story I fed Mr. Lancer, and then that idiot went and told everyone what I said. I was just trying to-! We both know Danny didn't leave willingly and...oh Vlad!" As if repeating her act from the first time she lept from her chair and embraced me, unable to hold herself together anymore. "I don't know what else to do! I said I'd give up school and college and run off with Danny if I have to but if we can't find him, I keep seeing him bleeding, dying somewhere all alone wondering what he did wrong! But Danny's been through so much, done so much good in the world, and the thought of him feeling unloved by our parents tears me apart! I was always the _'perfect sister'_ the _'perfect daughter'_ but Vlad, we both know that Danny's the amazing one, I'm just the _'smart one.'_ I feel so helpless, useless, like I failed him by not being there for him just one time! I don't care if you like me or not or even hate me for what I did to you but please Vlad, help me save my brother because I KNOW that you love him! You have to! He's the only person like you and no one, not even you deserves to be alone their whole lives! You may have done bad things in your life, but pushing Danny to become a better person and a better hero is one of the best things you've done...because he needs at least one person besides me who sees how special he is! To see that he's in control of his future, no one else!"

Holding Jasmine at arms length instead of returning her hug, I searched her eyes for any signs of deception but found only a mixture of fear, desperation, and to my surprise...hope. So in response, I told Jasmine confidently after bending down slightly to reach her eye level, "Jasmine, look at me. It's going to be alright. I promise. The fact that you are putting your faith in me above your parents is...flattering I'll admit, but that's not why I agreed to speak with you. As I said, you've done what they could not and admitted to your mistake and are open to negotiating with me regarding the terms of finding your brother for you. That's more then his little friends did but I'll explain that in just a moment too. Now, try taking some deep breaths and try to recompose yourself and I'll be back with our tea. Lord knows I could use a cup myself," Smiling knowingly, I added impulsively, "How does rose tea sound hmm?"

* * *

I waited until Jasmine felt a little calmer thanks to the tea and took a sip of my own before I told her the bare minimum of what happened last night, altering the truth for now since I wasn't sure if it was wise to let her know Daniel was here or not. I wasn't a fool. Even if her intentions were noble, Jasmine was as ill prepared to take care of her brother long term as Daniel's friends were. They had neither the means nor the emotional capacity to handle the life of a runaway, and judging by the fact that Daniel's school now knew he was supposedly abducted, even if his parents hadn't done so a missing person's report must have been filed by now. And this sadly meant that Jasmine's parents would be investigated despite her efforts to conceal the truth, or the perceived one at least, which was of Daniel being overshadowed by a ghost who then quite literally spirited the young teenager away to who knows where.

Thankfully Daniel was already safe with me and his wounds were on the mend, however, it was true that his parents were dangerous and Daniel needed to be taken far away from here, away from THEM. As for Jasmine, she still had her own life to live, her own dreams, and although she might be willing to sacrifice them for the sake of her little brother, doing so would only make Daniel feel worse about the whole situation. Yet if Jasmine did decide to move on with her life, Daniel needed to know she hadn't abandoned him to achieve this. Just two more years and then Jasmine could take charge of her own life again, but for now, her options were limited and at this point I'll bet she was seriously considering asking to move out of her parents home. Because frankly seeing them hunting her brother's ghost half not only frightened Jasmine, but it also deeply disgusted her because it had elevated their obsession to a whole new level. Jasmine was distressingly torn between her loyalty to their parents and not wanting them to get arrested. Not to mention the love and loyalty she felt for Daniel who needed her now more then ever since they had BOTH been betrayed by their parents to a degree and were feeling equally as neglected.

As soon as I finished my revised story, Jasmine set her cup down and sighed, tracing the rim of the delicate porcelain as she spoke tiredly, "I'm sorry about what happened with Sam and Tucker, Vlad. I _tried_ to warn them not to make the same mistake I did but as usual they didn't listen. They're lucky you're not as big of a jerk as Danny says you are sometimes. I think Danny was more frustrated then anything that he never seemed to improve enough for you to notice. It's...been a long time since Danny has had anyone to look up to besides our dad. But that's because most kids feel they have to, and it didn't help that our father was always drilling into Danny's head that he was going to inherit Fenton Works someday whether he wanted to or not. They tried to cover up ignoring him so much by _'toughing him up for the real world'_ and always ended up punishing him too harshly as a result. You know, that's why we were even at the reunion."

"Come again?" I gaped, setting my cup down as well.

"That's right, I guess I barely said two words to you when we were there huh? Same goes for when I came to you hoping to gather more information so Danny would have an easier time fighting his worst enemy," she sighed, clearly lamenting a lot of things from this past year, "I was such an idiot for not doing my research and diving in when I had no idea how dangerous you were. But then again, the rest of Danny's enemies are dangerous too and really, I do agree with Sam about wishing you had chosen to look out for Danny instead of giving him a hard time too, even if you had a good reason for being the way you are now. My dad...he neglected you too when you were hospitalized right? They're so selfish! And even now, even though you said you'd take care of it they're out there ghost hunting every night and barely make it home til three in the morning! I doubt they'd even notice I was gone just like they barely noticed Danny was even around unless he was late for curfew and came in the front door to look like everything was normal. Anyways, as I was saying, I was so sick of them not giving Danny any slack or trying to understand his side of things more so I suggested that they try to help Danny by helping him get to know what they were like growing up. That way maybe for once we could actually find some common ground to see if they actually understood what it's like growing up these days as opposed to back then. As a result, dad whipped out the invite to your 20th college reunion and dragged both of us along instead of letting me stay home and go to school as usual, not that I wanted to leave Danny by himself or anything. At least not til we got there and I took a much needed break from our parents. And this is from BEFORE I found out Danny was half-ghost."

I was taken aback by how open Jasmine was being with me when I realized she was likely delaying the inevitable while she gathered her thoughts better so being gracious I let her do so until Jasmine finally seemed ready after her 3rd cup of tea. There wasn't any rush but Jasmine came here with a set purpose in mind and I was simply waiting for my patience to pay off so that I could go check on Daniel. When this dragged on longer then planned I sent an invisible duplicate to check his condition and for now things seemed alright and the blood transfusion did help a lot. At least the color had returned to his cheeks again. Still, I wanted to get this over with before deciding if-

"I'm sorry, here I called you and we haven't gotten anywhere," Jasmine admitted, rubbing her temples, "The tea helped though so thank you. It was very good. But I think it's time that I show you what I'm offering."

"Show me? Show me what exactly?" I asked suspiciously, not liking the sound of that when to my shock, Jasmine pulled out a small chip which she placed on my desk before also setting down- "That's...I've seen that before." I didn't say when of course but I wanted to speed this up by letting her know I had a vague idea of what that device in front of me was.

Nodding, Jasmine set the idiotically-named tracking device down next to the chip and explained, "Sam was right about another thing too. I should have checked before I said all those things without knowing who I was talking to-" looking me in the eyes, her gaze steadfast and confident again, she continued. "I saw you on the security tapes in the Op-Center before I deleted them Vlad. I heard each and every word you said down there before I burst in thinking you were my brother. And to me it confirmed several things." Counting things off on her fingers she continued, "First of all, you were exactly right about what precautions my parents SHOULD have taken when we were little. Because trust me, that could have saved me a lot of headaches when it came to keeping Danny away from all their dangerous ghost stuff. That means that while you might not have any kids, you are a very family oriented person who has enough common sense to know how to keep them safe. Secondly, while you clearly still blame my dad for the accident that made YOU half-ghost, you care about Danny to the point that you sympathize with what happened when he had a similar accident and wish that he didn't have to suffer the same pain you did. This also confirms what I've thought all along since you let me stay with you and seemed so happy I was there which is that you don't want my brother dead, you want him with you. At first it was only because you wanted to 'steal' my mom and the two of us from my dad but somewhere along the way or maybe from the very start, you started to genuinely fall in love with Danny in a fatherly way and since then you've wanted nothing more then to teach and guide him in ways our parents can't because of what you both are, half-ghosts. That's why when my parents called you, out of consideration for Danny's feelings and mine, you tried to remind them to be parents first and ghost hunters second. Unfortunately, they don't know how to be both. They...never have. But oddly enough, you do though..." Pushing the tracking device towards me, then nodding at the chip beside it, Jasmine presented me with her offer. "Since I know that you were the one who took the gun now and not Danny, I can only pray that I'm right and you only took it and the blueprints to protect Danny from any further attacks. That's why I covered for you even though I thought you were my brother at the time. But with this, we can find him. I've used it before and so have Sam and Tucker so I know it works. I kept a back up of Danny's ghost signature on that chip just in case I changed my mind and decided that I can't defend our parents anymore if it means it'll cost Danny his literal life since they don't know the truth about who and what he really is. This is why I tracked down your private number and called you, to apologize for hurting you, and to tell you that as of this moment I am putting my little brother's life in your hands Vlad, because I believe that you really do care and he's not just some means to an end to get back at my father. If he was, there were other ways you could have used Danny against him a long time ago. I won't ask you to do anything for me, I've made my choice. I...can't stay with my parents anymore. Not sure how but I'll figure out somewhere to stay that's nearby so I can watch them from afar because I can't keep watching them come home...covered in ghost guts. So I am giving you this tracking device in the hope that you'll use it to save my little brother. I don't want anything else in return but to know he's safe. And if you need me to convince Danny that he's better off with you...then I'll come. I'll also keep covering for both of you because as I said, I don't trust my parents anymore. I'm not even sure...I can love them anymore after what they did to Danny..."

Leaning back in my seat I processed every word she just uttered and felt the weight of what Jasmine was offering me. Trust. Plain and simple. Not money, not secrets, not the promise of renouncing her family -though it pained me to hear that she too had lost her faith in the two people who raised them- no, Jasmine was offering me something I could not touch, only feel in my heart that was worth more then all the money in the world. She had faith in me even after I threatened her, hurt her brother countless times, plotted against their father, and yet Jasmine would cast that all aside to give me a second chance with nothing more to offer then her absolute faith in my intentions. She didn't care about my powers, my motives, only that I cared about and was willing to look after her brother from now on.

Leaning forward again and resting my hand over hers which were still trembling over the boomerang-shaped tracking device, I smiled warmly and pushed the object back at her. "Thank you, Jasmine. But I won't be needing that." For a moment, Jasmine looked horrified, thinking I was refusing to help when I placed my other hand over hers too and continued earnestly, "Have I ever told you before just how incredible you are? Daniel is lucky to have such a wonderfully caring and devoted older sister as you. To think that you would go so far as asking someone as dangerous as myself for help while showing such unwavering faith in me based on so little. I think that is more then enough to prove that I can trust you to do what is best for him no matter what anyone else might say. In return for what you have just offered me, the least I can do is extend an offer to you as well as a sign of good faith. As I recall, you mentioned that you are leaving Fenton Works correct?" She nodded, still unsure about where I was going with this. "Then since you are still a minor and cannot rent a room on your own at your age, I am willing to pay room and board for you at the hotel of your choice until such a time as you can provide lodging for yourself at a later date. And even then, should you ever need anything or wish to contact me I'll allow you to have continued access to my private cell phone number. In the event of your parents finding out about this and asking you why you came to me, tell them I did this for your sake, which is the truth. Because I will NOT abide by their selfishness negatively effecting your upbringing as well and disrupting your life while your brother is missing. For while I sadly cannot take you in myself since as of next week I will be stepping down from my job as mayor to move back to Wisconsin, your family means a great deal to me and you are no exception, Jasmine. I may not care for you the same way as I do for Daniel but I can safely say that you've earned my respect and admiration. And if they continue to neglect you like this when you need their support too, and because they did not heed my warnings, then as their _'friend'_ it is my solemn duty to see to it that you are also provided for while I continue to search for Daniel. Especially since none of us want Child Services involved, because should they discover his kidnapping and blame your parents for it then they will be the ones who will have you legally removed from their household for your own protection. As for actually finding Daniel, well, it's best I show you the results of MY search."

* * *

Without warning I abruptly teleported us both to Daniel's room after turning off the shield manually from my communicator, causing her to flounder a little but I held her steady while she regained her balance. It took her a moment to realize what happened but then, the moment Jasmine's eyes fell on Daniel, they lit up and she looked from him to me and back again. She was speechless. Choking on a sob, Jasmine tore her eyes away from him after absorbing the fact that he was alive and well, hooked up to an IV and all the other standard medical equipment and looked at me, her tears spilling over as she forced herself to whisper.

"You found him...how? How is this possible? How long as he- No, is he doing alright? Has Danny woken up yet...?" I could feel her shaking like a leaf but the relief that swept over her nearly made the poor girl collapse. Still, smiling sadly, I let go of her hands and allowed Jasmine to go to her brother's side to see for herself that he was alive yes, but not doing as well as either of us would like.

After Jasmine sat on the floor and took Daniel's hand, whimpering because of how cold his skin felt, I strode over to her and explained the entire truth of what has transpired over the past week and what Daniel has decided upon as well, or was trying to at least. As expected, Jasmine was horrified when she heard that Daniel attempted suicide, but it only deepened when she heard why. But I wasn't going to demand answers from her about that. Not yet. Because I already knew that unlike Daniel's friends, alas Jasmine was still relatively clueless when it came to most of what Daniel dealt with during his ghost-fighting on a regular basis since she was rarely there for it or directly involved. Doubtless she knew about as much as I did about this alternate timeline aside from the fact that it had left a scar on Daniel's heart that had yet to heal and now, somehow, the cause of it was taking advantage of his weakness and trying to recreate that terrible future and take control of him.

When Daniel didn't wake even when she called his name I calmly explained, "I had to sedate him, Daniel needs rest and so far he has hardly gotten any. But as you can see his life is out of danger from his injury at least. As for the rest...well...that is up for him to decide. Knowing you are on his side though will be a great comfort to Daniel I'm sure once I tell him you were here and that you know he's alright, even if you can't be together for awhile. But I swear to you, I will see to it that Daniel receives the love and care he deserves from now on. And I will do everything in my power to give him a better future. I won't ask you what that other future held for us except one thing, because it will help me save Daniel from this new darkness pervading his heart too. This being he's so deathly afraid of, what is his name...?"


	20. Mistaken Identity

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 19: Mistaken Identity

* * *

Vlad's POV

It was difficult for Jasmine to pry herself away from her brother's side but after giving him one last tearful kiss to his brow she stood up and we made our way back to my private study on foot. True, I could have teleported us again but I was hoping that the short walk would provide Jasmine a chance to get over the initial shock of seeing that Daniel was already safely in my care and ample time to decide whether or not to tell me the name of this mysterious ghost tormenting my little badger. Still I was surprised when Jasmine wiped the rest of her tears away and smiled at me warmly, confident now that she had made the right call confiding in me and relieved that her brother wasn't out there dying alone in the streets somewhere.

"I still can't believe he survived being struck by lightning when he was already injured, Danny is really something else," Jasmine commented, taking another deep breath.

I nodded, glancing back in Daniel's direction as I replied fondly, "Yes, he is."

"So, Vlad, is it true that you're quitting your job as mayor? Or is that just your cover story for moving Danny somewhere safer?" she asked me curiously.

Seeing no reason to lie to her at this point I nodded.

"It is. After his friends broke into my home last night, and given the fact that Daniel is still petrified of your parents finding him, I knew without any further doubt that I need to get him out of here as soon as possible so that the rest of his needs can be properly addressed WITHOUT any further interruptions. As it happens, I already told your parents I was considering doing so anyway to focus my efforts on managing my businesses and _'searching'_ for Daniel..." My expression hardened again when I recalled the last call I received from them and how I disconnected the landline phone to avoid any further demands for information. "Your parents should be easy enough to fool, but the fact that your school now also believes that Daniel was kidnapped will complicate things. No need to worry too much about that though my dear, I'll manage. After all after doing it for over twenty years I've grown rather accustomed to covering my tracks. Besides which, you did what you could to help in the hopes of Daniel not being punished unjustly for his absence if they had assumed he was a runaway. As for my offer concerning renting a hotel for you, as you know, money is no objection so you may choose whichever one you like and I will take care of everything. We'll discuss the details once we- hmm? Jasmine? Is something wrong?" I paused when Jasmine stopped following me and pulled out her cell phone, which had been on vibrate during our conversation. Then Jasmine glared at the caller ID before angrily stuffing it back into her purse and striding forward a few steps to catch up with me. In response to Jasmine's obvious distress I asked with a raised brow, "Let me guess, it was your parents I presume?"

"Yeah it's my parents," Jasmine scoffed bitterly. "And suuure, NOW they decide to wonder where I am. But I left them a note telling them I was going out for a drive, never told them to where though since I didn't want them bursting in on us. Not that they'd think to look for me here anyway. All they know is that I said I'd be back by noon at the latest," Jasmine sighed, attempting to reign herself in before she got too worked up again. Then Jasmine looked at me and said, "Besides, I did what I came here to do and now I'm really glad I decided to risk it. Knowing that Danny is safe means I can focus on handling my parents and hoping they'll realize that I still need them too. It's bad enough that they're hunting ghosts until early in the morning like Danny did, only they're doing who knows what to the ones they actually find, but at the rate things are going Mr. Lancer might call Child Services after all since all of my teachers can tell how stressed I am and are concerned that Danny has been missing for over a week now. I called in sick the day after Danny went missing but I nearly passed out in class the other day too which is really bad. I have to start taking better care of myself, especially so I can be there if Danny needs me once he wakes up. That's why even though I wasn't expecting it if you could help me too even just a little I-"

"Jasmine, it's alright. You don't have to say anything. Now, lets finish this up and I'll make a reservation for you once we decide upon the hotel you'll be staying at. I can even recommend a few with an excellent menu for room service," I smiled charmingly, opening the door for her and ushering Jasmine into my personal study once more.

Once she sat down however, it was back to business because I couldn't afford to let this opportunity to slip past me about finding out the identity of this enemy of Daniel's that everyone close to him treated like some unspeakable horror, whose very name was considered taboo. Either way, upon checking my watch, I saw that we had very little time left before her parents panicked and mounted a full scale search for their eldest daughter as well. Therefore I quickly addressed the matter at hand; namely, finding out more about this being who, real or not, posed a serious threat to Daniel's mental and physical health.

Jasmine could tell what I was about to say because while looking as though she was dreading it, she already had an answer ready for me. A shame it wasn't the one I was hoping for...

"Don't worry, I didn't forget about your question Vlad. I'm just not sure whether it's a good idea for me to answer it when it's really personal to Danny, more so then his secret life as a half-ghost. I don't know how much Danny has told you, if anything at all, about him but Vlad, I sincerely hope that that ghost isn't responsible for Danny losing control of his powers and creating a rogue duplicate because he's dangerous." Rubbing her arms after suppressing a shiver, Jasmine's voice quivered when she told me, "He didn't want to tell me about it but...when Danny finally did after the nightmares started I've never seen him so afraid before. All I know is that in this alternate future, we died Vlad, all of us, except for you since you were still in Wisconsin. And because of that, you were the only person Danny had left in his life. Danny had no choice when he went to you because everyone he cared about, and fought so hard to protect day in and day out, our mom and dad, his best friends Tucker and Sam, the only teacher who saw any potential in him, Mr. Lancer, and me, we all died in an explosion at the Nasty Burger because Danny cheated on the C.A.T. test. I'm not sure how long Danny was with you in that timeline but something really bad happened and it created...him. It created a powerful ghost that crippled your future self and went on a ten year tirade..."

"Good lord," I exclaimed, covering my mouth, not expecting that kind of revelation. "You mean to tell me in that alternate timeline everyone besides me died...?" _So this is what Daniel meant when he begged me not to let him be the one responsible for the deaths of his loved ones? Why he's so afraid of making another fatal mistake?_

She nodded, shrinking into her seat, "Yes, we did, and Danny wasn't able to stop it either. As for this other ghost, I...I met him once. He was so powerful and could have killed me right then and there, but he didn't because it wouldn't fit into his plans for turning Danny into someone just like him. I'm sorry Vlad, I know you asked me who he is but the truth is I never caught his name. Everything happened too fast and all I could think about was saving my little brother who was stuck in the future. That's the first time I used the Fenton Boomerang to find him, I sent it into the Ghost Zone after telling it to find Danny ten years into the future with a message to go to your future self for help getting back, since that creep said you were the only one who still had a working portal. So whatever happened between Danny and your future self worked because Danny made it back and defeated that ghost, if only just barely. Still, ever since then Danny hasn't been able to bring it up either, that ghost's name, even when he's woken up screaming, begging us not to be dead again because of him. It's terrifying seeing Danny look like that and not knowing how to help him. But if YOU can get him to open up though, I'm sure Danny will finally confide in someone about that evil ghost like he needs to and get over his fears. If what you said is true then maybe no one was manipulating Danny. Maybe that duplicate was just a manifestation of his fears brought to life using his ghost powers."

Recomposing myself, groaning since I'd been hoping for more information then that, I asked instead, "I understand, if things really were as dire as Daniel described it's no wonder you were unable to find out his name. And Daniel's friends likely won't tell me what it is either so as you said, I'll have to ask Daniel about him. However, since you have at least SEEN this ghost, can you describe him?"

Jasmine nodded again and sighed heavily as she looked away from me, flinching at the mere memory of their brief encounter, "Danny's actually not the only one who has had nightmares about him, I just don't have them very often and it feels more like I'm...remembering seeing him standing over my brother's battered body, laughing and mocking his human weakness. He had blue skin, red eyes, though it was just his iris's so they weren't solid red; his hair was made of white fire; and he wore an outfit that was like a mixture of yours and Danny's when you're in ghost form since he had a cape and Danny's insignia on his chest. I don't know what that means though. What I do know is that somehow he's deeply connected to Danny, he doesn't hold back when he wants something, and most of all, he doesn't hesitate to hurt people, to...kill. He's a monster. Seriously Vlad, I doubt even you would stand a chance against him if you went after him alone. And I'm saying this KNOWING how powerful you are this time. Because if he still exists...then there's still a chance that Danny will become him after all if we're not careful, since like we've already seen, there is more then one way to _'lose'_ someone you love..."

* * *

The rest of our conversation went relatively smoothly after that and I tried not to dwell too much about how little I'd gleaned from Jasmine about this ghost possibly still haunting Daniel. What I DID learn however was what the root of Daniel's fear really was. It was of making another careless mistake or a wrong choice that would cost the lives of everyone he loved, and turn him into something dark and unrecognizable once the despair utterly consumed him. Really, we may be half-ghost but we're also human and even Daniel was allowed to make a few mistakes here and there. What mattered was that he learned from them and tried to be more careful from now on. Then again it didn't help matters that anything short of perfection was not good enough for his parents and resulted in harsh punishments that hardly suited the crime...

That was one thing I would have to fix once Daniel was healthy enough to resume normal activities again. Such as receiving a proper education and training with his powers for example. Because yes, I fully intended to help him in both ventures and not just the one you'd expect since we're the only two ghost hybrids in the world. He was a maturing young man after all and needed to hone his mind as well as his body to better steel himself for the drastic new changes about to take place in his life. True I've taken things too far before to get back at him recently, however, the least I could do was make MY rules clear from the start with reasonable punishments, and in time I'm sure that certain rules could probably be removed entirely once Daniel proved himself dependable enough not to need them anymore. Not that I was too concerned about that due to his frequently excessive goody-two-shoes ways.

Either way, once we finished making the arrangements for a hotel room Jasmine expressed her gratitude to me once more for not only taking care of Daniel, but also for extending a helping hand to her as well. I must say that it was a refreshing change to only being praised by others by so much as shaking their hand in public, as if even breathing the same air was a privilege they were indebted to me for. Not that I was this gracious with just anyone but as I said, Jasmine proved herself to be a surprisingly mature and open-minded young woman who despite all of this still had a bright future ahead of her. And if by doing this I could help her succeed without being directly involved then I saw no reason not to.

"Remember, should you need anything else my dear you may call me at any time," I smiled softly, about ready to bid her farewell when we reached the front doors again. In all seriousness though, I also told her, "Oh, and before I forget there's something else you should know. Once the rest of the preparations for moving Daniel to my castle in Wisconsin are complete, I will be paying Fenton Works one last visit to retrieve a few of Daniel's personal possessions to hopefully make the transition a little easier for him. If you are still packing your things by the time I do I may ask you where some of his personal affects are. After that, I too plan to stay well away from your parents aside from occasionally reporting any _'progress'_ I've made of tracking your brother down. The rest I leave to you, and the hotel staff have been made aware that your stay is to be kept strictly secret. Should they fail to keep their mouths shut, I will personally see to it that they suffer the consequences. The same applies to if they are anything but courteous to you, Jasmine, since you are MY _'niece'_ after all. Aside from all that, is there a personal message you would like for me to give to Daniel later when he wakes up?"

Caught off guard by the last part, Jasmine paused and replied with a sad smile, "Just tell him that I'll always be thinking of him and remind Danny that it's not what happens TO him that defines him, it's the choices he makes because of them. I believe with all my heart that no matter how hard or hopeless things get, he'll keep fighting for what he believes in and keep doing the right thing. That includes doing the right thing for himself too and not everyone else all the time. Not even me. And if he's still worried about trusting you then tell my brother that our parents were wrong about a lot of things, but they were especially wrong about how the rest of the world works. Things are never so black and white, which means even they have their flaws too. If I can see the good in you too Vlad, then we both have to accept that our parents are capable of doing bad things for the _'right'_ reason, which is even scarier then a person knowingly doing something wicked. I know they still love both of us, but this isn't the way Danny wants to be protected. Danny doesn't need to be protected from ghosts, at least not the ones he usually fights because my brother is more then a match for them, he needs to be understood because Danny IS half-ghost. And if the time comes for my parents to know the truth and they still can't accept him, then I know that you always will Vlad. Because you are so alike in ways that he doesn't understand yet. Maybe you don't either. But you balance each other out so who knows...maybe you will change for the better and nothing bad will happen like in that other future. All we can do is believe in each other and give this whole thing with you a chance. Sometimes, that's all it takes to spark a change. The willingness to try." Then, some warmth returning to her smile, Jasmine turned to me, though a bit unsurely and extended her arms, asking, "Could you give him a hug for me though? From both of us?"

"Both of...?" I wondered until I captured her meaning and closed the distance between us, embracing her gently like I would hold a delicate flower in my hands, and this time I too felt the love we both shared for Daniel that could not be put into words. "Alright, I'll make sure to pass this along to your little brother. But promise me this Jasmine, that if you ever get lonely and wish to talk to Daniel, you'll tell me so I can let you know if he's ready or not. After all, Daniel is afraid of losing you too which unfortunately means it's dangerous to be around him right now while his powers are out of control because of his emotions. As you know from what happened when his friends came to rescue him. I know it's asking a lot, but if you could give those to a verbal lashing for me on Daniel's behalf I would be most grateful too. They really hurt him. And if anyone knows what the betrayal of a friend feels like...it's me."


	21. Alone, Or Not?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 20: Alone, Or Not?

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Danny's POV

I think the last time I felt this sick was actually after the accident that made me half-ghost now that I think about it. I wasn't in the hospital for years like Vlad was but I still felt pretty awful. Well that and I had to hide my powers long enough to get discharged, because at least at home I could make a quick get away to Tucker or Sam's or even just go out somewhere, anywhere that wasn't home. Now I was quite literally under house arrest when I woke up and got up to use the bathroom only to realize Vlad had a human & ghost shield installed in my room.

"Wow Vlad, paranoid much?" I groaned taking a step back before turning around and noticing another door across from the bed.

When I looked inside, thankfully it turned out that this room had it's own bathroom attached to it that wasn't blocked off. Because, you know, why wouldn't it when you're Vlad Masters and can afford it? I was still feverish though so once I was done I splashed some water in my face which helped a little. I would've taken a bath too but I was trying to be a good patient this time and brought the little IV rod-thing with me since it was on wheels instead of phasing them out again...

I was drying off my face with a towel that I swear was made of cotton from an actual cloud when I peered up and saw a pair of red eyes, watching me from out of the corner of my eye. I gasped, whirling around in a battle stance to find their owner, nearly knocking over the IV stand in the process. Moving around too fast had been a mistake though because I got really dizzy and had to lean my back on the counter while I waited for the room to stop spinning.

"Vlad I swear if that's you doing your usual stalking we REALLY need to set some personal boundaries," I laughed nervously, slowly turning back to face the mirror. "Ok Danny, snap out of it. Think. If it WAS Vlad or a ghost that was actually there then my ghost sense would have gone off. Therefore it's just another stupid hallucination because of the fever. That's all it is. Right? Right."

Nodding to myself I sighed and looked up at my tired reflection but then stepped back in alarm. Those eyes! My own eyes were glowing red now! Rubbing them with both hands I blinked and they faded back to blue but...feeling my panic raising I placed a hand over my racing heart and thought, _Oh great now I'm seeing myself as HIM! Unless-_

"Wait, didn't I have red eyes when Freakshow was controlling me too? No no that's stupid, I broke his staff ages ago when I first got my pow...ers..." Another wave of dizziness swept over me and I was forced to sit on the floor, waiting for it to pass.

Once it did, with some effort I got back to my feet, left the bathroom, and climbed back into bed, exhausted from even doing that much. I hated to admit it but Vlad was right. I was in no shape to be walking anywhere let alone going ghost so for once it was probably a good idea to listen to his advice and rest. Problem is I was starving too and those snacks he left for me wasn't gonna cut it. Thankfully I already grabbed a water bottle earlier before heading to the bathroom and guzzled it down, feeling relieved to have something cold to drink at least...

I felt a stab of homesickness when I remembered my mom's home cooking and how when I was sick she always used to make really good chicken noodle soup with those little star-shaped noodles. Really, most of the time my mom did make our family normal food, especially when Jazz and I were sick. Anyways, I wasn't about to tell Vlad I wanted soup of all things because knowing him he'd make fun of me. Besides, I had no way of asking for-hmm? I blinked, hearing a soft buzzing sound beside me and when I looked over I saw-

"Huh? Did Vlad leave this here?" Tentatively I picked up the sleek cell phone and after checking the caller ID, which came up as Vlad, I answered it. "Uh...hello?"

" _Ah good, you're awake,"_ Vlad sighed in relief from his end before getting down to business. " _Now before you ask that phone is a spare of mine and I've programmed my personal number into it for you so that you can contact me if you need anything. I've disabled making any other outgoing calls on it though, at least for now, since the last thing we need is your friends causing a scene again. At any rate I'm afraid something's come up at City Hall that I need to attend to but first, I'm sure you're famished. Is there anything in particular you would like to have for lunch? I'm ordering something now on the other line."_

"Ugh forget it, I'm just going to go back to sleep," I grumbled, about to hang up on him when I asked. "Hey Vlad, weird question but you didn't happen to send another duplicate to watch me did you?"

Sounding genuinely confused, Vlad replied, _"No, after your last violent display I decided against using that method of keeping an eye on you in the hopes of putting you more at ease. Now really Daniel, stop acting like a child and tell me what you want."_

"Well, hmm, lets see, first off I'd like you to stop acting like a fruitloop and turn off this stupid shield on my room, and then-"

" _Daniel, I MEANT to eat."_ Vlad sighed, obviously trying not to sound too annoyed at me as he explained calmly. " _As for the shield, it is in place as much for YOUR protection as it is the protection of your loved ones. Your powers are VERY unstable at present, if what happened down in the laboratory is any indication, and since we cannot say for sure whether or not a ghost actually does have some power over you it's best not to take any chances. When you are well enough I will drop the shield around your room, but the one around the mansion will remain up until further notice. Do I make myself clear?"_

"Intangibly," I smirked before sighing in exasperation, resting my head on the pillows again. "Look just get whatever you're going to get and I'll eat later. I'm too dizzy right now to think of anything to eat anyway."

" _Very funny Daniel. But surely you do realize that you are dizzy BECAUSE you need to eat my boy. You've been asleep for nearly a week straight. Trust me, you'll feel better once you've eaten something. However if you're not feeling up to it now I won't force you, so feel free to rest for now but you do need to eat later. If you refuse by then I may have to get a little forceful."_

I rolled my eyes, "Relax Vlad, I'm not going to starve myself. I'm way past that. I'll let you know if I'm up to eating. Anyway, what's this big emergency at City Hall?" Sitting up when the thought occurred to me I asked seriously, "It wasn't a ghost attack was it?"

" _Don't be absurd Daniel, if it was a ghost attack that's hardly any of my business. Besides which the Guys in White, Valerie Grey, your friends, or your parents would have the situation under control if it was,"_ I winced when he mentioned my parents and as though sensing my distress Vlad said more gently, _"The fact is my boy, even if there was an attack you'd only get yourself killed trying to face them now. And at any rate that is not why I must go to City Hall. You see, a certain personal matter has arisen that needs my undivided attention from now on and I fully intend to make sure that your needs are taken care of. I promised your sister as much-"_

"Jazz was here?! Since when?! How did-!" I asked, my heart racing again to the point where it hurt and I started hyperventilating.

Alarmed Vlad ordered sharply, _"Daniel, calm down this instant! It's alright, Jasmine came to see me a few hours ago and she left a message for you. If you promise to behave I'll give it to you as soon as I return, with the promise that you will eat something once I do. Sound fair?"_

Forcing myself to calm down and breathe more slowly, I asked shakily, "How...how is she? Does Jazz blame herself for what happened because she wasn't at home? We both know it wasn't her fault, I was the one who stupidly walked past our parents in ghost-form. If Jazz had been there, I know she would have done anything to stop them, even take a bullet for me. But Vlad, she has a life too and a brighter future then mine will ever be so I...I hope it's not falling apart now because of me-" feeling the tears well up in my eyes before I could stop them, I pleaded, "Please tell me you helped her too. I know she tricked you once but Vlad, she's my only sister! Jazz knows how our parents are and she has always looked out for me even from before my accident. If you really care about me like you say you do then you'd see that unlike our parents, Jazz accepts all of me, and she only tricked you to try and help me beat you. She's all I have left to care about anymore, because my parents hate my ghost half, my best friends left me when I needed them most, and Jazz...if I become the reason her future is ruined too then I-!"

" _Daniel,"_ Vlad cut me off sharply again. " _We'll discuss this later. For now though rest assured that Jasmine will be fine because she is more than capable of taking care of herself. In fact your sister is a lot stronger then I first gave her credit for during that incident. I can see now why you admire her so. Still I'm afraid I have to go now but do try to get some rest little badger. I will see you in a few hours."_

"Vlad wait-!" I began but he'd already hung up on me. "Ugh! You jerk! Couldn't you have waited two more minutes?!"

* * *

I must've fallen asleep again without noticing because the next thing I knew, I woke up and was lying...on the floor. "What the-?" I wondered, waiting for my vision to come back into focus before I tried to pry myself off the ground.

Just then though I jerked when there was a knock on my door and instinctively called, "Wait, I'm uh...getting dressed!"

Ignoring my excuse Vlad opened the door and stepped inside with a light chuckle, "Get dressed in what pray tell? As I recall your usual attire was-!" as soon as he saw me on the floor however Vlad rushed to me and asked worriedly, "Daniel! What on earth are you doing on the floor? Are you alright? Why didn't you call me?"

Frowning at his accusation of not reaching out to him I told him the truth, "Heck if I know. One minute you had just hung up on me to do your City Hall stuff and the next, instead of waking up in bed, I wake up in the middle of the floor. I can't remember even getting up. And I know that the shield you have on the bedroom door doesn't hurt which means I didn't black out from being zapped or something, so I honestly have no idea what happened Vlad. That's the truth. If you don't want to believe me, fine."

"No no I believe you little badger," Vlad said seriously as he helped me up and kept me steady as I sat on the bed again then felt my forehead with a deep frown. "I'm just concerned that your fever is still so high. High fevers can cause lapses in memory if severe enough so we really need to get this under control again. Eating something substantial should help with that which is why I brought you something."

Retrieving the bag he left on the dresser when he came over to help me up, Vlad pulled out what had to be the fanciest grilled cheese I've ever seen with three different cheeses wrapped in some kind of paper, and then after that he also withdrew a heat resistant container with what smelled like just plain chicken broth. I was surprised Vlad got me something so...normal. Granted I've only ever had normal grilled cheese on white bread but holy crap did it smell good. I was almost embarrassed to ask if it was ok to start eating when Vlad pulled out a serving tray he'd apparently stored under my bed and set the food down on it, smiling expectantly.

"Um...you're not going to spoon feed me are you?" I asked, inching away from him only because Vlad was kinda creeping me out with that look.

Chuckling softly, he leaned back and brought the chair he usually sat in right next to me, crossing his legs before replying, "No, I think your pride is already wounded enough like the rest of you at present. Until this fever goes down though I'm afraid you'll have to stay on the IV's a little while longer little badger. Even so, at least you're strong enough to feed yourself which is what I had hoped would happen once I administered the final version of the antidote to that ghost-blocking infection. We're not out of the woods yet though so I'll be starting you on a light diet and we'll work our way up from there. As long as you drink plenty of fluids and can stomach solid foods then I'm sure you'll be fine. The other part is simply a matter of making sure you get plenty of rest and don't overexert yourself. And that will be taken care of once we relocate now that the matter of stepping down as mayor is finally underway. Hopefully once we're out of Amity Park you won't feel as anxious. Which reminds me," stopping me before I could work up the energy to reach for the food before my stomach embarrassed me with a rumble, Vlad began, "I do believe I owe you an apology for hanging up on you. I was in a hurry you see. But I'm a man of my word and promised to tell you about my visit from Jasmine and make sure her message is delivered. I must say, Jasmine is truly a marvelous young woman. And she is an even more loyal sister to you Daniel. Don't worry, I've taken it upon myself to help her _'escape'_ your parents without leaving Amity Park entirely so there is no danger of her dropping out of school. I rented a hotel room for her under my name until such a time as Maddie and Jack wise up and do their job making sure she's alright while I attend to your needs and to devote my efforts to making sure you're safe, which you will be once we move out of Amity Park. As for her message, well I recorded it again but...I'm hoping you'll take my word for it this time?"

Feeling a little unsure, I nodded, waiting until Vlad gave me permission to dig in while he told me about how Jazz somehow got his number and asked to talk to him. But after what happened when she thought Vlad was me I wasn't surprised and even smiled when Vlad told me how she caught him red handed in the laboratory on the Op-Center security tapes. I was relieved too when Vlad told me she erased everything having to do with me, even though really they hardly ever checked the recordings since they were usually too busy working on their inventions. Heck they hardly ever went out to actually ghost hunt and use their weapons and other ghost catching stuff for the most part, except on Halloween when they actually patrolled the town like I did every night since that's when there were more ghosts then usual in town.

Speaking of which I was surprised none of my usual enemies had been spotted lately, but then again, with our portal closed they no longer had easy access to our world. That was kind of a hard pill to swallow because it meant...without that portal not only would I not have become half-ghost, but there wouldn't even BE any ghosts over on this side for me to fight. Still, if nothing else, I was glad to hear that Vlad was helping Jazz after all. I just had to remember that I wasn't completely alone because Jazz would always be on my side. Knowing she still had a future made me feel a little better about this whole mess too even if my own was uncertain. Because it meant that that was one less thing for me to worry about, if she was doing alright and handling our crazy parents. Too bad I still had plenty of other things to worry about though. Like what Vlad meant about us _'moving out of Amity Park...'_


	22. Conflicted

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (04/14/2018):** Sorry for the delay, things have been hectic the past few days plus my internet was down so...yeah, life happens! Anyways in the meantime I've been reading the previous chapters to remind myself what's happened so far and holy crap has a lot happened in such a short amount of time! Just like my real life! At any rate, I hope you enjoy this next chapter even though it's mostly about Vlad and Danny not seeing eye to eye because Danny doesn't fully understand or want to believe he can't do anything he used to anymore, including ghost fighting. Not only that, but now they're moving too? To Wisconsin of all places!? Will Danny be able to accept that that's where Vlad feels he'll be safest, or will Danny's fear of repeating the same circumstances that created Dan result in Vlad having to continue keeping Danny under house arrest for his own good til he can accept his new reality? Well you'll just have to keep reading to find out!

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Chapter 21: Conflicted

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Danny's POV

"Ok, wait, let me get this straight," I began after finishing as much of the food Vlad brought me as I could. Which I'll admit was really good, but I only managed to finish half of the grilled cheese and the chicken broth before getting a little queasy. I did feel a little better after eating something after all but I was still kinda struggling to keep my thoughts from wandering whenever I slipped into a tired daze though. I didn't want to let that happen now especially since Vlad decided to oh-so-slyly let it slip in that not only was he quitting his _'hard earned'_ job as mayor, but he also said something about moving us both out of Amity Park too. As if I was going to let him drop THAT bomb on me without saying anything! "You're actually quitting your job as mayor? Seriously? And what the heck do you mean by _'relocate?'_ I can't just leave everything behind! My whole life is here Vlad! Jazz might be ok with it but I never agreed to this!"

"You mean your life _'was'_ here Daniel," Vlad corrected casually as if it was no big deal, taking the food tray off my lap and moving it back under the bed. After that Vlad gave me a new water bottle from the fridge when he noticed mine was empty, and continued sternly, "I understand your reluctance to leave your family and friends behind, but I'm afraid it's necessary. It's too dangerous for you to stay here. Your friends know where you are now and if word gets back to your parents, even IF we somehow managed to convince them I _'removed'_ the ghost boy from you, we both know they would never accept my word alone on that and would almost certainly perform their own tests on you to confirm this. That in turn would only subject you to more traumatic experiences. They've already harmed you physically, which is worrisome enough as it is, but Jack and Maddie's actions have also left a deep emotional scar on you that may never heal completely even after your wounds do. That being said Daniel, can you honestly tell me you could ever go back to a normal life knowing that your parents ACTUALLY considered ending your human life as well if it turned out that this ghostly _'parasite'_ invading your body, your own alter-ego Danny Phantom, could not be removed? Surely even you understand that would be considered murder. And can you find it in your heart to forgive those two so-called friends of yours for walking out on you in your most desperate time of need because they think you're being reckless and they don't agree with or trust your choice? Are you willing to risk being discovered and putting your life at risk again and making your sister's worst fear a reality? The terrible fear that has haunted her sleepless nights of your parents hurting you again and quite possibly..." Trailing off, Vlad looked concerned when my face began to pale since I knew he was right but I just didn't want to accept it. Then Vlad rested his hand over mine, sighed, and added somberly, "Daniel, listen, I never said this had to be permanent, as much as I'll admit that I wouldn't mind if it was in the least. If there is a way to help you regain some normalcy in your life then once you've recovered I will do what I can. However, for now the most I can do for you is remove you from this precarious situation. And by so doing it will give you at least some peace of mind while you're recovering, as well as ample time to decide what we're going to do about all of this moving forward. Especially once the danger of being discovered is significantly reduced. I can't ensure your continued safety so long as we remain in Amity Park though. The chances of your parents or the local authorities complicating things are astronomically high. Not to mention there's the danger of any number of your ghostly adversaries appearing at this critical time and exploiting your weakness once Jack and Maddie eventually reactivate the Fenton Portal. Because trust me, when they've explored all their other options, it is very likely that they will do just that which will place you in even greater danger while you're too weak to defend yourself or flee from your enemies, which sadly as of now includes your parents. I cannot allow that to happen."

"Exactly!" I argued. "You don't get it, even if I can't go home or to school or hang out anymore they still need Danny Phantom! I can't just let my town get overrun by ghosts while I'm gone, they'll think I've abandoned them too..." gripping the sheets until my knuckles turned white I told him, "Everyone used to see me as nothing but a nuisance, some still do, but what else is new...? If I up and leave that all behind then I'll be proving them right and then, really, what was the point of any of it? What good am I to anyone!? At least as _'Danny Phantom'_ people notice I exist and some of them even sorta like me, but as Danny _'Fenton'_ I'm just a nobody with crazy ghost hunters for parents that only exists for them to blame things on. I'm nothing without these powers, nothing! Honestly, I still don't believe you'd care about me as much as you say you do if I wasn't half-ghost too! To you I'm just a-!" Stopping myself from ranting again I loosened my death-grip on the sheets which were starting to cramp anyway and leaned back on my pillows, closing my eyes, and after taking a deep breath -although it didn't help reduce the tightness in my chest- I admitted, "It's like you said, I know they mean well but Sam and Tucker don't get it either. Jazz might have told them what happened with my parents, but in the end, they'll never understand what this feels like. They have no idea what it's like being half-ghost and constantly having that side of me being threatened or waking up in the middle of the night because my ghost sense went off THEN getting beaten within an inch of my life more than once, not to mention the struggle of having to constantly hide the truth from everyone 24/7. So fine, I guess you're right! Having my parents threaten to rip me apart molecule by molecule is hard sure but up until now I put up with it because duh, they're my parents and I knew they weren't directing that hatred at me specifically, just ghosts in general, or so I told myself. And I really thought they'd always love me and could accept me as I am but I was wrong! I just don't know what to believe anymore! Given our history, I have a hard time trusting you but...at least I already know what to expect from you most of the time. Heh, it looks like history is doomed to repeat itself no matter what I do. I am sick and tired of sacrificing everything and having nothing to show for it! I can't keep living like this Vlad! But I just...can I really allow myself to be selfish and look out for myself for once without becoming the kind of person I hate? Can I live with myself knowing I left everyone I care about behind and put my fate in your hands when I've seen how it could end?"

When Vlad didn't answer right away and slowly let go of my hand, I opened my eyes and looked at him, realizing what I'd just said probably came out crueler then I meant it to when he replied curtly, "I see. So that's it then, you still see me as the villain even now, don't you Daniel? Even after I've done EVERYTHING I could think of to prove otherwise?"

"What? No I never said I-!" Reaching for his hand before he could pull it away completely I blushed in embarrassment, feeling stupid for having to actually spell it out, and tried to make him understand, "Vlad I...don't hate you. At the same time though you're not exactly hiding that you are STILL trying to convince me that you have my best interests at heart and always have which I have a hard time believing when my gut instinct is usually to kick your butt or get as far away from you as humanly possible. Maybe that's just it. I'm not used to you being so upfront and honest or genuinely nice to me, not without some string attached to everything you do, no matter who it's for because in the end it's all about what YOU want. So you'll have to forgive me if I'm still feeling reserved about believing you don't have any other hidden agendas behind helping me evade my parents. You didn't even ask me if I was ok with moving away from everything I care about, you decided everything on your own as usual! Sure. Logically I know you're right about all the risks, but you of all people should know what it's like to want to keep holding onto a part of your life, the part that makes you who you are. This isn't about being a hero or a villain, it's about needing to know you're someone I can count on. For once in my life...I want to believe that I can make my own choice about where my future takes me without it blowing up in my face. Because I don't want you deciding everything for me either, Vlad." I winced at my own reference and finally let go of his hand, wiping some sweat from my brow with the back of my hand and looking up at him, surprised to see him smiling down at me instead of moping like I expected him to.

"Now that's more like the little badger I know, headstrong and as easy to read as an open book," Vlad smiled, ruffling my hair which only confused me more.

"Huh?" I blinked, staring at him like he'd grown two heads -which actually reminds me of the time I shorted out HIS powers and Vlad wasn't able to duplicate himself properly and I punched both his heads while we were both in ghost form when he tricked my mom and I into taking a flight that dropped us off at the Rockies...

Smiling again for reason I couldn't even begin to fathom, Vlad answered, "It's nothing, I'm just glad to see that you've regained some of that spirit I've always admired. And yes perhaps you're right and I should have told you sooner but come now, I can't be expected to report my every decision back to you when I'm trying to let you rest now can I?"

Taken about by his unexpected 180 I gaped, "Wait what?! So that little depressed act just now was all a trick? You were testing me? Are you for real?"

"And you passed," Vlad smirked even wider, ruffling my hair a second time as if it couldn't get any messier. "As for the move, it will take some time to hire movers and such so if you want to at least say goodbye to your friends and your sister that can be arranged, although I'd rather not at least as far as your friends are concerned because frankly...they're rather selfish and you deserve better. So tell you what, over the next few days if you promise to behave and get plenty of rest I will let you decide who you'd like to see first because I am not leaving you alone with those two especially. Jasmine is trustworthy enough though and I have no qualms with her paying us a visit so long as we can keep your parents oblivious to the fact that you're here with me. However," in all seriousness again Vlad looked into my eyes and added harshly, "There is one fact that remains true when it comes to my ulterior motives, YOU are and have always been since the day we met my top priority so as much as I would like to work together with you and come to an understanding your safety comes first which means whether you accept it or not, Amity Park is no longer safe and we WILL be leaving in a week's time or less if I have to move you prior to vacating the premise myself. I may not be the villain of the story anymore, but I am no one's hero either, unless it's yours because Daniel? You are all I have left to care about in this world. I cannot love a woman who would stand by and watch her husband shoot a harmless ghost that posed no threat to any human life. And my hatred of your father burns stronger than ever since he's the one who pulled the trigger. But of all of these feelings in regards to your family, the only one that matters to me is you, whether you're half-ghost or not because I still firmly believe that you are the son I never had but always deserved. Take pride in that. Take pride in knowing that even before I learned your secret, that I, Vlad Masters, truly envied Jack for having two such outstanding children with the woman I once loved. So if anything, my love for you hasn't changed Daniel, it has only deepened ever since I realized how irreplaceable you are to me. Which means I will do whatever it takes to protect you and keep my promise to your sister Jasmine about giving you the life you so justly deserve, even if it's not the one you wanted because frankly, even I doubt there is any turning back from this now."

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Vlad's POV

Leaving Daniel to his thoughts to attend to some unfinished business, I promptly left after telling him in no uncertain terms that we were indeed leaving Amity Park regardless. And I only did so since I had reason enough to believe that he understood why we had to leave even if as expected Daniel was very unhappy about it, not to mention he clearly still needed more rest although I was relieved to see him manage to keep solid food down for the most part. But really, as far being unable to return to his old life, the choice had been made for him the moment Daniel realized his human half was also injured by his father, and Maddie let it happen...

To be completely honest I was being more then gracious in allowing Daniel the opportunity to see his friends one last time as well in addition to Jasmine. I had nothing to fear from Jasmine since I knew she and I shared a mutual understanding that her brother needed me as much as I needed him which meant that it was time for me to take on the parental role in his life instead of her since their parents obviously were unqualified for the task. Which reminds me that I still had to make sure to keep them occupied long enough to make sure I could, for lack of a better phrase, spirit him away to safety.

Still, I was hoping I'd be able to move him without Daniel putting up a fuss when the time came because I had no qualms now with using an alternative method of subduing his ghost powers now that his wounds were healed at least enough to afford a short amount of time of him being strictly human. As for his friends, Mr. Foley appeared to be more frustrated with his conflicted role of supporting Daniel while obviously feeling more inclined to side with Samantha Manson when it came to leaving Daniel in my care. It was one thing for her to direct such hostility at me, I was more than used to it from my business rivals or those who envied my wealth and power, but to have direct ANY of that towards Daniel just when his whole world fell apart, well, and here they call ME cruel.

Needless to say, personally I'd rather deny them both the privilege of seeing Daniel again altogether. In his eyes at least they were still his precious childhood friends though and just like Daniel expressed to me a few moments ago there were some things in his life that even now he didn't want to completely let go of. I understood that but as of right now at least, there was no way for me to return his life to anything even remotely close to normal whether it was here in this town or in the presence of the people he cared about. And even if there was, it would never be the same between him, his friends, or his parents ever again, which I'm sure Daniel was more than aware of which is what pained him the most now...

Both of his friends, much like mine, had betrayed his loyalty in one way or another, and knowing how trusting Daniel was of his loved ones their barbed words cut him deeply. Especially those of Samantha in particular, whom I knew Daniel had strong feelings for, that to his face accused him of being self-serving by asking me for help rather then them. And on top of that she DARED accuse him of turning evil because of that trust Daniel was freely -if with a reasonable amount of reluctance- giving to me when to do so was _'wrong'_ in their eyes. But for Daniel's sake, I was willing to put up with those little rats if only long enough to give him the chance to explain to them once more WHY he chose to entrust me with his welfare. And hopefully given the fact that his older sister consented to trust me as well when I've threatened her before as well maybe they'll listen. That is, unless they accuse me of overshadowing her to make her say all those things. Typical children making up excuses when the truth is right in front of them.

If they continue to disagree with his choices however then it only proves they never trusted Daniel in the first place, in which case he was better off without their baggage in addition to his own list of burdens. Getting those two grounded was merciful on my part since I really could have had their break in put on their permanent records and destroyed their futures as well, at least in the sense of any future employment after they graduated. After all, I was that _'evil'_ after all and prone to long-standing grudges. Especially when in this case they insulted someone close to me, which Daniel was in so many ways. I would not stand for their slanderous words towards my little badger any more than I had when his parents insulted everything Daniel was as 'Danny Phantom,' the ghost boy hero who all but abandoned his own dreams to ensure that the people of this pathetic town were safe and happy at the cost of his.

Well, all of that was about to change once I took charge of his future from here on out, at least in the ways any proper parental figure should. I would see to it that Daniel could sleep safely through the night again without any ghosts disturbing him; I would see to it that he received a proper education and the help he needed to excel not only at school but with his powers; I would show him the endless possibilities I had to offer for paid tuition for colleges across the globe; I could share my world with him at last and make him see that we were meant to be together, if not like this, though together we could make it work for his benefit since as long as I had him...I didn't need the world, I didn't even need Maddie anymore. And in a way, at least in time, Daniel would see that he didn't need his friends or family to dictate who he could or couldn't be. Jasmine was right, the future was his alone to shape. All I needed to do was provide the means to achieve that greatness that was in him all along, buried underneath their lofty expectations of what a hero _'should be'_ and not who Daniel himself was meant to be.

It didn't take long to arrived at my private study, I was happy to see that Maddie had at last come out of hiding and sat curled up on my chair. Striding over, I picked her up, and while she meowed in protest at first, once I began gently stroking her fur and sat down Maddie was almost immediately purring happily away again. With a content sigh, I muttered, "In time I'm sure that Daniel will understand why I'm being so overprotective and strict about this decision. Really with a sister like Jasmine you'd think he was used to it by now. He's such a handful but I'm happy that Daniel hasn't regressed back into that awful depression of his. Time will have to help mend the other wounds as well."

Speaking of time, I glanced at my watch and frowned when I saw how late it was. I wasn't expecting Daniel to go off on another tirade but then again, he was still feverish and easily provoked so that had to be taken into account. And as patient as I was, perhaps mine was wearing a little thin as well since I have been keeping myself busy making the necessary arrangements at City Hall to announce my sudden retirement, hiring the movers, making sure to keep Daniel's medical needs met, paying for and ensuring that Jasmine's hotel stay will remain a pleasant one, deciding what to do to keep Daniel's parents off our trail and so on. Either way, even for me that kept me rather busy with hardly any time to worry about myself but if doing all of this meant keeping Daniel at my side it was worth it.

As I sat there quietly pondering to myself what to do first tomorrow, I failed to notice that Maddie's purring was lulling me into a more relaxed state of mind than I could afford to be in and I briefly closed my eyes to listen to it for awhile and regather my thoughts. However, before long it became increasingly difficult to open them again, and Maddie was just so warm and content sitting on my lap too, it'd be a shame to make her move again. All I wanted was to clear my head of worries if only for a moment but much like Daniel I was mentally and physically exhausted which meant in the end, I had no choice but to surrender and allow sleep to take me. Although come morning, I was going to be very sore from sleeping on my chair...


	23. Ever The Villain

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (04/15/2018):** There's not really much talking in this chapter but that doesn't make it any less important! It's about Vlad's motives and big shock, he's plotting stuff which is why this chapter was so much fun to write! I hope you like this glimpse of what's to come as the curtain falls on Act 1 and we move onto the real fun where Vlad and Danny have to learn how to live with each other while an unknown threat closes in and starts getting a little more bold when it comes to manipulating Danny. Hope you're ready!

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Chapter 22: Ever The Villain

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Vlad's POV

The next morning I awoke to Maddie depriving my lap of her warmth and rubbing against my legs as she demanded breakfast. And when I sat up, good lord did my back hurt as expected. I might be half-ghost but as a man in my forties there were some things even my powers could not prevent. At any rate, as usual I phased any traces of cat hair off of my clothing then proceeded to head downstairs after checking my watch to find that it was 6am sharp. Daniel would very likely still be asleep so I created two duplicates, sending one to check his IV bags and the readings on the heart monitor he was attached to, the other to get me something for the pain in my lower back as well. Of course as risky as it was since it was habitual for me to send a duplicate to check on Daniel ahead of me if I preoccupied myself I continued to do so. However, this time I made sure it suppressed it's ghost signature and remained unseen for now since Daniel hadn't exactly responded very well to his last encounter with one.

Really judging by what I saw on the security recordings and feeling Daniel's own explosive reaction when he obliterated the last one, it was to be expected that the boy was still on edge and clearly in a _'fight or flight'_ mentality. That was preferable though to the dejected behavior that lulled him into a state of lethargy and clinical depression that led to his suicide attempt. I still shuttered at the thought because I can honestly say that hearing that took a year off my life that not for the first time, I was deathly afraid of losing him. I felt the same way when I discovered he wasn't breathing after I caught him before he crashed to the earth and injured himself more severely.

A small smiled graced my lips though after actually hearing that Daniel didn't despise me anymore, and clearly he was trying to let his guard down at least a little to prove that he was beginning to trust me to keep him alive at least. As for the rest, it was true that with a history like ours it was very unlikely that Daniel would ever completely drop his guard in my presence. In time I hoped he would though. And I simply had to give as much if not more trust to him then I received if that was what it took, even if it meant telling him in no uncertain terms that while I might be willing to change how I interact with HIM, I was not about to entirely change who I was. He wasn't expecting me to either, neither was Jasmine, and especially not his friends, which suited me just fine.

After all they weren't the ones I had to fool.

I sighed, wishing that Daniel was awake already so I could offer him some choices for breakfast but then again he still needed the rest and while I hadn't shown it nearly as much as I felt it I panicked when I found him laying on the floor when I came to check on him. I feared the worst but remained relatively calm and did not jump to that conclusion despite my gut instinct screaming for me to do so. Eating proper meals should help him recover more quickly, especially since I added the same ghostly vitamins to his soup last night that I've been adding to his IV's to promote his natural healing abilities. Which reminded me, I was going to have to conceal his presence when the human movers arrived and I needed to devise a way to do that without leaving him completely alone. Because frankly, I was the one who couldn't trust Daniel to be in his right mind at present with the fever and depression...

Skulker would have been the ideal watch dog but that would only put Daniel more on edge unless I kept him sedated and I didn't want to subject him to that anymore. It was almost ironic how I couldn't trust my own allies, well, minions rather, to look after the boy any more then he could. Those three feather dusters were out of the question as well because should push come to shove they stood no chance against Daniel's wits and powers should he risk using them. Another idea came to mind of entreating one of Daniel's allies instead but quickly dismissed that as well since they would assume I had him captive and try to liberate him unless Daniel managed to convince them otherwise.

After all, I'm sure that Daniel didn't want to spend the rest of his days living in hiding out in the Ghost Zone with them once they learned the news that his human parents had injured him and that made him turn to his worst enemy for help. In this however I was his best and only ally at present even if my methods were less than...reputable most of the time. I was doing this for his own good though. And frankly, I was delighted with the idea of leaving his unremarkable little speck on the map far behind me and begin enriching Daniel's life in more ways than he could possibly imagine. I couldn't wait to get started. But first-

"I suppose I should brace myself for the long day ahead of me and make sure Daniel is taken care of whilst I do so. After all I do owe the Fenton's a house call," I glowered at the thought of seeing Jack or Maddie again but it would be best to tell them in person about what I was doing from the human side of things. And really they had no reason to protest since I was moving mostly for their sake to focus my efforts on finding their son, so there was no reason to remain the town's mayor anymore.

Even so I was not going to leave their town completely destitute, and perhaps doing so would further convince Daniel that I wanted to help ease his troubled mind when I told them I was going to fund research to create more ghost shields that could be installed as security systems to prevent ghostly invasions in the home, businesses and most importantly, their children's schools. This would line up nicely with my other plan of offering a reward in the Ghost Zone to whomever was willing to keep the Fenton's occupied whilst I _'removed'_ the town's hero and left it up for grabs for anyone interested in this pathetic place. They didn't need to know that I meant actually move him to a different location and not destroy him.

What? Did you think I was going to offer to protect the town itself with those shields...? Honestly now, who do you take me for? At any rate no, as consolation for leaving them behind I was merely going to give Amity Park the tools to protect themselves and in turn bring in a small profit when these shields went on the market. Protecting isolated area's should be enough to placate them and my researchers could work on something better in the future, although I was going to make the method of creating said shields impossible to decipher which meant if they became desperate enough they would have to turn to Jack and Maddie and buy the rights to their ghost shield technology which they already know for a fact works if only at a limited range after the Pariah Dark incident. While I highly doubted anyone would want to buy their technology when mine was not only more advanced but more reputable, I personally didn't care what they did after I left with Daniel, the ghosts or the humans.

Speaking of which, if the Fenton portal was still in disuse I would have to allow limited access to my portal so that whatever ghosts took the bait once I made my offer could do their thing. Because surely Jack and Maddie knew that there were natural ghost portals too all over the world, which I knew even before gaining the use of the Infimap for that brief amount of time thanks to our old ghost research from 20 years ago. That being said, I was sorely tempted to move my second portal to an isolated location and leave it there for any ghost to use if they could find the entrance on their side to ensure that my plans could proceed unhindered. It was risky, since I did not want that technology to be discovered by accident should anyone try discerning precisely WHERE all these ghosts were coming from. Now what I would have LIKED to do is simply switch out the Fenton portal for that one and leave the unstable portal active so that Daniel's parents would take the blame for there being ghosts in their town in the first place but that would take a lot of careful planning and possible overshadowing to pull off. Then again, Daniel would be upset if I got his parents arrested as would Jasmine so reluctantly, I dismissed the idea. I could always repurpose the other ghost portal that exploded on me and leave it in disrepair only using the scraps to make it look like shoddy work and claim that another inventor tried to make their own ghost portal years ago. Yes that could work. Either way that was a project for a latter date and first I had to go make the offer known through the Ghost Zone of the reward I was offering as well as free access to our world to anyone willing to keep those ghost hunters out of my hair, although to the stronger ones among them I had to make it clear that neither of them were to be killed, because if they were they would have ME to answer to...

As for the rest, I was going to tell Jack and Maddie first that I was quitting my job as mayor to lead the search for Daniel personally and moving back to Wisconsin to resume managing my businesses more directly again as well then make the announcement public. That way any video footage of me moving would not look suspicious in the least. The matter with the ghost shields was something I could entrust to Valerie Gray's father at Axion Labs as well, giving them limited access to the blueprints I already had available for the technology we already used for our own security systems. In fact, I could probably 'hire' her on the side to patrol the town since ironically I trusted her skills above and beyond that of Maddie AND Jack combined at this point, although with Maddie it was more that she quite frankly was unable to shine as a ghost hunter since she had to keep constant vigil over her husband and he often had tinkered with their weapons resulting in them not working half the time and costing precious time.

Valerie however had the best of the best in ghost technology and had somehow acquired a new battle suit according to her last _'report'_ to me. I would have to find out exactly how this happened eventually but so long as she could perform her task well I had faith in her skills since I knew Valerie was very dedicated to her task and trained regularly to keep her senses sharp. I was actually quite happy knowing that Daniel no longer had to worry about me sending her after him either and would put her skills to a much better use even if it was still dangerous. True I could tell her to stop but like me young Valerie Gray was a person driven by a personal vendetta which could not be pushed aside so easily. To be honest, redirecting her aggression should actually come as a relief to Daniel since it meant that where the shields fell short, she would pick up the slack and inherit his job of protecting Amity Park, which meant he didn't have to feel so guilty about leaving the town on it's own devices...

All in all I was satisfied with my plans for the most part where I gave a little so as not to arouse suspicions, covered my tracks, and ensured that no one would continue to think that absence of any ghosts was due to Danny Phantom being missing, quite the contrary, once they _'returned'_ those ingrates were going to WISH they had treated him better. Oh yes, Jack and Maddie especially were going to have to finally see that the ghost boy they hated so much was likely the only reason this town was still on the map! Once the more powerful ghosts started to appear again regularly with no one to stop them it would force everyone to see what a benefit it was having Daniel around to protect them. And again, even with the offer to share ghost shield technology I was being more than generous too since in truth I very much wanted to leave this entire place to rot, it's citizens included, aside from Jasmine of course. Should things become too dangerous for her I was willing to accommodate and make sure ghosts knew not to so much as look at her wrong or they'd face my wrath. I could do that much at least since at least her parents could look after themselves for the most part and didn't need my protection, they were lucky that I wasn't going to subject THEM to my full wrath instead.

So yes, there was much to be done today as well but as I said before, having Daniel become a permanent addition to my life was a goal I was willing to continue striving for. He really was better off with me after all like I've been telling him all along. The only thing that had changed, like Daniel himself pointed out, were my methods of convincing him to stay indefinitely. For while it was true that I wasn't keeping Daniel prisoner, that by no means meant that I was any less adamant about keeping him...


	24. Passing The Blame

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 23: Passing The Blame

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3rd Person POV

 _Needless to say, Tucker Foley was at a loss. Because ever since their argument with her, Jazz almost seemed to be of the same mind as the popular kids and ignored their existence. When she did approach them Jazz flat out told them she went to see Vlad and that set his friend Sam off again and they started screaming at each other. He understood where they were both coming from but, didn't Jazz realize Vlad was still the same creep as ever since he ratted them out for breaking into his house and got them grounded by their parents for a whole month?! Sure Vlad might have saved them when Danny lost his cool, but he probably only did that to make himself look good in front of Danny. As if that arrogant prick actually cared what happened to either of them._

 _As for Danny himself, Tucker knew he was just feeling scared, confused, and was having a majorly hard time right now, but still, he had to realize sooner or later that staying with Vlad willingly or not was just asking for trouble! They would have found some way to hide him eventually, Tucker was sure of it, so once things cooled down they'd have to try to talk some sense into Danny again. All they could do now was wait until their punishment was over before making their next move to get Danny away from Vlad. However, Jazz was also against them taking her brother which complicated things even more..._

 _Once the yelling finally stopped, or at least Sam had to pause to catch her breath, Jazz played her trump card and took the opportunity to continue breathlessly, "Look, I know you care about my brother, but that's just it. He's MY brother, so this is a family matter and you two have no right to tell me what to do that I think is better for him! You both might think Vlad's a creep and yeah, maybe he's not going to change his tune right away about working the system to get things how HE wants them when it comes to Danny, but guys...this situation? It's dead serious! Danny was already having a hard enough time juggling between ghost fighting, going to school, hiding his secret, training, and making time to hang out with you two, but now he can't even show his face in public at all or my parents will find him! Can you even IMAGINE how isolated and alone he feels right about now? And yet the both of you had the GALL to WALK OUT ON HIM?!" Jazz brushed the tears from before away she then continued more quietly, "Feeling abandoned by you guys too is probably worse to him than just how sick and injured he is right now. Vlad told me how even now, even when my brother is the one suffering, he was really worried about how WE'RE doing. Danny was scared that all three of us were going to drop out of school because of him and he wants US at least to still have a future despite all of this. As for Danny, who knows what's going to happen to him now. He can't go home, go to school, walk down the street, or do ANYTHING here anymore without putting himself at risk. Don't you understand? My brother has lost everything! And even when and if he could come home someday, Danny will never be the same again. He's really hurt guys. Not just physically either. There's...something very wrong with him. Something is happening to Danny that's making his powers do weird things and creating these vivid hallucinations of his future self both in his dreams and reality. But...do you know what makes what's happened to him even worse, Sam, Tucker?" Now glaring at them harshly and resisting the urge to slap them both for being so selfish and thoughtless, Jazz told them exactly what she was told happened mere moments before they tried to_ 'rescue' _him and how Vlad was trying to save Danny even from himself when he not once, but twice lost all hope and against all odds he STILL tried to protect THEM by removing himself before the very situation Sam accused him of being in with becoming evil before that had the chance to happen._

 _After that, Sam finally realized what she had done most of all and broke down into sobs. Even Tucker found himself shaking and crying because Danny was his best friend and he would have never forgiven himself if they were the reason that he- "Jazz, I-I don't know what to say. We just wanted to save him and thought, well, we figured Vlad was tricking you too and we wanted to get Danny back..." Looking down at his other best friend he took off his hat to run his hand over his hair and sighed heavily, "Aw man, Sam, we really messed up this time. I didn't think Danny was feeling THAT down on himself because of all this, and we only made it worse. What're we gonna do?"_

" _He can't-he can't stay with Vlad though!" Sam exclaimed in desperation through her tears. "That's how it all went down last time! Danny gave up his human side to escape the pain of losing us and-and-! How could I have been so stupid? How could I even say something like that to Danny?! I don't think he's actually turning evil, I was so mad at him, and Vlad was acting so smug about Danny siding with him that I..."_

 _Softening her gaze, though her tone remained stern, Jazz said seriously, "Sam, Tucker, I think it's time you told me everything about what happened with that future ghost. I didn't tell Vlad exactly who he was, mostly because even I don't that much, but for Danny's sake he needs to understand what's at stake here exactly for that reason so he doesn't get carried away with his...bad habits. Danny told Vlad as much as he dared to about that timeline after his duplicate took on the form of that evil ghost, but trust me, I can tell my brother is keeping the whole truth from Vlad precisely because he's not ready to trust him entirely yet until Vlad can prove himself. I'm not stupid, neither is Danny, and it's true that while I'm giving him a chance to show me how sincere his motives are I don't trust Vlad entirely either, but, at least I'M willing to give him a chance to change Danny's future. Neither of you gave Vlad that chance to explain himself either and in turn you put more strain on my brother. I won't lie that I'm really mad at you for doing that even after you heard that my parents did the same thing, literally jumping the gun which is what got us into this whole mess! What I do trust is that Vlad will do everything in his power to save Danny from my parents and give him a better life, he won't turn him '_ evil' _because really that's not what Vlad really wants. What Vlad actually wants is the same thing Danny needs right now. To not be alone."_

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Vlad's POV

Once it was a more reasonable hour and Maddie was fed, I decided to pay Daniel a visit before making the necessary calls and arrangements to proceed with my plans moving forward, and literally moving out of this backwater town. When I knocked on the door however there was no reply so I simply phased inside to find him still sleeping. What troubled me though was the pained expression on his face and the notable flinch and gasp that escaped his lips when I used my powers, setting off his ghost sense. Curses, I completely forgot I was avoiding using my powers for that very reason in his presence unless he was awake and to suppress my ghost signature. However, the sensation was fleeting and before long the tension in his body eased again although Daniel's expression remained that of someone bracing for a blow to be struck.

It was amazing now that I think about it that Daniel didn't flinch every time that I touched him since I was often the one striking out at him during our battles, and even now, as I took a seat on his bed and gently pet his hair back, the exact opposite seemed to occur. His expression began to soften until at last an innocent one replaced it as soon as he accepted my comfort unknowingly and relaxed. A shame that Daniel only seemed to respond to me this way when his guard was down. Whenever Daniel was awake I had a much harder time convincing him that I meant no harm which again was a reasonable assumption. That and Daniel had trained himself to be ever alert due to how often ghosts appeared in the middle of the night and he needed to leap into action at a moment's notice...

Still, I smiled in relief since his temperature was down at least a little from what I could tell and he wasn't sweating as profusely. More out of habit as well from taking care of him, I strode over to the bathroom, grabbed a hand towel, and soaked it with water. Then I returned to Daniel's side and began cooling him off. His eyelids fluttered a bit and he seemed confused by the sensation so I paused, thinking he was about to wake but to my surprise Daniel did not. In fact Daniel's expression melted into one of relief and he rolled onto his side, breathing softly.

That's when Daniel finally did open his eyes slowly, peering up at me for a moment before he scoffed, "Ever the fruitloop huh Vlad? Watching me sleep like a creeper..."

Smiling in amusement I chortled, "Well you make it hard to resist the temptation of doing just that since it's the only time I get to see another side of you little badger. I'd be less inclined to do so if you'd relax more while you were awake too without looking at me like I'm the devil's advocate."

Rolling his eyes, Daniel struggled to sit up on his own and retorted, "Are you kidding me? Knowing you, I think I'd actually tell the Devil to make a run for it since you're actually a lot scarier when you get serious. Anyway, is there something you want? Or are you just here to creep me out?"

With a sigh I offered him the hand towel I'd just been using, which Daniel took and scrubbed his whole face with at once before wrapping around the back of his neck, and explained, "As tempting as it would be to catch you by surprise much like I often did before, it would be unwise of me to do so now. In truth I came to ask what you'd like for breakfast and suggest that you take a shower or a bath this morning. It will help you feel better and you'll be needing a change of clothes today so I wanted to take your measurements. Aside from that I was hoping to discuss a few things since last night we ended on a rather...unpleasant note. Daniel I really don't want to have to fight with you on this and it would make it easier on both of us for you to allow me to do what needs to be done for your sake."

"Oh, right...that..." Daniel muttered dejectedly, having almost forgotten how I told him we're leaving Amity Park in a week or so depending on if all our bases are covered and there were no further complications. "I guess a change of clothes would be nice, as long as you don't plan on dressing me up like some spoiled rich kid. The pajamas are fancy enough-" he pulled at the silk to make his point, "-I don't even wanna know how you had THESE in my size. They are a little small though..."

"Ah, bright boy," I smirked and admitted, "Well yes it's true that at one time I did have your measurements from before soon after we first met but you've probably grown since then Daniel. It has been almost a year after all." Looking away from Daniel to scan the room idly until it fell upon the flat screen I had installed for his use to entertain himself, I told him nonchalantly, "As for _'dressing you up'_ I am well aware that you are not a doll Daniel, although it is true I'd like to get you something that is at least slightly more fashionable then your previous attire. However that is a concern for the future, or in the event that I cannot...liberate some of your existing clothes from your home at Fenton Works. I've spoken to your sister and I will be paying your parents a visit soon to tell them of my decision in person under the pretense of continuing my search for you and the need to return to Wisconsin to personally manage my businesses more directly again, which is true to some extent. A substitute mayor has already been selected and all that's left to do is make the public announcement. If possible I would like you to watch it. Whilst I'm there I will try to grab a few of your things to make this a little easier for you and Jasmine will cover for us and say she wanted something to remind her of you while she was staying somewhere else. I need to see if she's ready to check into the hotel I rented for her under my name or if she has already and it would be a great help to me if you could- Daniel?" My head snapped towards him when I heard him inhale a sharp gasp.

Unable to look at me, Daniel bit his lip until it bled and glowered, "You're serious about this aren't you? Taking me away from here. I suppose I don't even have to ask where we're going, it's always the same place. But Jazz, is it...really so bad at home that even she doesn't feel safe around mom or dad? And if it is, does that make it my fault too? Darn it!" Muttering a low curse he threw the hand towel across the room and ran a hand through his raven hair, his shoulders drooping and eyes becoming glassy, which I wasn't happy to see at all.

"Daniel, none of this is your fault," I spat venomously, though not at him but at the fact that Daniel was STILL blaming himself for this entire situation. "So I would appreciate it if you'd stop acting like it! The whole world doesn't rest on your shoulders you stupid boy! And neither do the choices of your parents have to burden you so much! You made a single seemingly harmless mistake, and your parents reacted violently to that mistake and have since then begun ghost hunting nearly every night, coming home as late as you often did when they should be consoling your sister. Jasmine told me they've even come home covered in ectoplasm which only makes her worry more and more that one day they'll come home carrying YOU in their arms covered in that and human blood if they attacked you again like before. She cares about you deeply and is afraid for YOUR life, not her own. Jasmine has nothing to fear and I've offered her what protection and relief I can. However, her greatest relief will be knowing you are taken far from here and brought somewhere well beyond their reach. Now then," dusting off some imaginary dust from my shoulder, resting both hands behind my back, intent on changing the subject before either of us got too worked up which so far wasn't going at all as planned, I asked, "With that out of the way I was wondering if you could tell me in particular anything you would like for me to acquire from your home when I go to visit or whether you have a message for your sister as well. Not to mention I still need to know what to make for breakfast."

To my surprise, out of all the things I said, Daniel decided to focus on the most random one and asked in bewilderment, "Wait, since when do you cook...?"

Smirking, I replied, "Oh come now Daniel, I wasn't always the rich and powerful billionaire you know today. I have many mundane skills you might not think someone like myself would bother to retain when I could simply pay someone to cook for me. But yes, I do cook. And I'm especially good at making deserts..."


	25. A Not So Fond Farewell

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (04/24/2018):** Wow _"Sparkling Hobbit Hoe of M. E"_ is quite a mouthful! And I noticed you reviewed the previous chapter too! So I just wanted to personally say thank you for both, especially the more recent one because it made me really happy to hear! Also, oh in this chapter you will discover the irony of that comment _"Serkeru."_ I've actually been talking to a close friend of mine who has been helping me with this story and since he works at a hospital he's been helping me make Danny's recovery process believable, meaning we talked a lot about Danny's diet at the moment to decide what he could eat at this point without throwing up. Crazy I know to get hung up on such a small detail but hey, small details are MY specialty! Anyways, you guys are in for a treat yourselves since this chapter is extra long! Enjoy!

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Chapter 24: A Not So Fond Farewell

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Danny's POV

I was surprised when Vlad told me that to make up for being kind of a jerk last night, but hey what else was new, that he decided to give me a little bit of freedom and helped me walk down to the kitchen. And by _'help'_ I mean he practically carried me there once we got about halfway since unfortunately I wasn't strong enough to walk that far yet. We had to stop before I even made it to the top of the stairs. My legs just didn't want to support me that long and started shaking like they had when I ran from my house on foot. Man this sucks!

Well, at least I was able to take a shower by myself before that so that was something at least. Vlad was right about one thing though, I did feel a lot better then I expected to after taking a shower because it helped clear my head, even with the fever still present. Speaking of which, after taking my temperature again once I came out Vlad looked pleased to announce that I was slowly getting better. Especially now that I wasn't AS stressed out as before, managed to catch up on some sleep, and more importantly my regenerative ghost powers were working again. Sure they weren't at a hundred percent, but he explained that my body was still weak from having a bad fever not once but twice in a row. He was concerned that I was still a bit anemic so Vlad also told me I might need another blood transfusion soon. Fun...

I didn't tell Vlad about this part but, after I removed the bandages to get ready to take my shower I grimaced when I saw the scar on my left shoulder. He did say there might be one because even with my powers working again, that wound wasn't a normal one even for a half-ghost, meaning that my healing powers weren't able to erase the evidence of the injury completely this time like they normally would have. Which meant that I would have this scar for the rest of my natural life. I had a small scar on my back too from where the lighting bolt struck me, but it wasn't nearly as noticeable. Still, considering how many fights I've been in you'd think I'd have more battle scars but nope! Oddly enough these were the first two I've gotten since getting my powers and in a way they stood as proof that this had been the first fight I almost didn't manage to walk away from. This time...I really almost died for good and that only made the scars look uglier...

Anyways, once we made it downstairs it was so weird seeing Vlad act so...normal in the kitchen as he gathered all of the ingredients he needed to make what I reluctantly requested for breakfast. Sure it was a ridiculously fancy kitchen but still, I guess this was the first time I'd really seen him act like a normal person without some nefarious plot currently underway. Then again, there probably still was one and as usual Vlad was hiding it masterfully from everyone, including me. Or I guess it was ESPECIALLY from me since that's what this was all about. This whole situation, it was about me, what I lost, and getting me away from here. Away from my parents...

I might not want to admit it, but what Vlad told me last night had the desired effect on me when he told me what Jazz has been dealing with. To think that my mom and dad weren't only hunting ghosts for real right now but they were...hurting them while trying to get answers about me; namely my ghost-half. No wonder Jazz was freaking out about this. She had every right to. And sadly this proved to me that as much as I might want to keep denying it, both Jazz and Vlad were right. I couldn't stay here. But leaving everything behind to live with VLAD...? The guy who turned me into Dan the last time my life fell apart? How was I supposed to feel about that...?

How was I supposed to feel any safer with him than with my parents since Vlad basically just told me last night that I didn't have a choice? Either way we were leaving and that Vlad was going to be the same manipulative fruitloop as always to not only my parents, but to everyone else in this town. Even if he was doing it for my own good and Jazz agreed with him, I-

"You're being awfully quiet my boy. Are you feeling alright? Even if that was a short trip you haven't regained your strength yet so it's understandable that even the most mundane tasks can be tiring. At any rate, it'll be ready in just a moment. Then we can talk," Vlad called back to me, smiling that know-it-all smile as he hazarded a guess as to what was on my mind.

I tried to ignore it but I noticed how Vlad didn't bother to hide the concern in his eyes since I had yet to touch the glass of milk he poured me earlier either. I was spacing out again and staring at the glass in front of me, suddenly feeling the urge to tap it. When I did it made a soft clink sound and I grinned, "Geez Vlad, do you have anything normal in your house? What kind of person uses crystal for something like milk?"

With a smirk, Vlad glided over -figuratively not literally I mean- and set down a plate of Swedish pancakes for me, although on the way down here he kept insisting they were crepes. But weren't crepes like...for desert with fruit on top? These only had butter and powdered sugar on them. Sure Vlad SAID he's good at making deserts but isn't that the whole point of breakfast? You can get away with eating a bunch of sugary crap without getting yelled at! Well whatever, Vlad asked me what I wanted and thinking of Jazz I blurted out what she always asked for for her birthday breakfast. And Vlad being Vlad ignored my rambling excuses about that not being what I meant and made them anyway. I guess since they were thinner then standard pancakes they didn't take as long to cook but still, how the heck did Vlad finish making them so fast?!

"To answer your question Daniel the answer is obvious I should think. I do enjoy the finer things in life. And you'd be surprised how much better a drink tastes when in crystal as opposed to normal glass." Straightening up, Vlad went back to the kitchen to make even more food for some reason, explaining, "Now that we know you can keep down solid foods I can start adding more to your diet as long as it's not too rich. Ironic I know seeing as I do so love rich foods-" he winked slyly and I just rolled my eyes, resting my chin in the palm of my hand, "-at any rate it would be a bad idea to give you too much too soon so, would you prefer oatmeal or sausage? Maybe both?"

"Vlad it's weird enough that you're cooking for me so don't make this any weirder than it already is. Just the pancakes are fine," I blushed, still feeling stupid for blurting out the birthday breakfast story about Jazz.

"Trust me, you're going to need more than that to get through the next few hours," Vlad insisted, nodding at my plate and waiting until I took a bite before looking away again. Reaching up to put the flour away, he continued talking with that annoyingly know-it-all tone again, "I do have some apple sauce you might enjoy and it'd be easy on your stomach so we'll go with that."

Rolling my eyes again as I ate Vlad put everything away normally until out of habit he must've decided to use his ghost powers for something because a moment later I stiffened, every muscle in my body going taut, my senses on high alert and my eyes flashed green before they darted over to where he stood. But wait, this presence didn't feel like Vlad's now that I thought about it. I was getting better at telling the difference in ghost signatures although I wasn't very good yet...

Vlad sensed it too, though I guess he has a different type of ghost sense that wasn't as obvious as mine because I can see my breath. No sooner had it appeared then it was gone again and we both heard an irritated screech as whatever it was left. Forcing myself to relax, I released the death-grip on my fork but gasped again for a different reason when it I noticed how it felt all mangled and molded to the shape of my hand and then dropped it with a clatter. Since when was I that strong in human form...?!

"Daniel, just what pray tell do you think you're doing?" Vlad asked in a low voice, his eyes narrowed he glanced at me suspiciously.

Feeling indignation more than freaked out about what just happened I haughtily replied, "Well I WAS eating breakfast when a random ghost decided to fly overhead. Man you'd think they'd know better than to fly over YOUR house unless they've got a double-death wish. Unless it was one of your buddies that just got ghost-zapped."

Dropping any pretenses Vlad crossed his arms and raised his brow as he nodded in my direction, "No, I meant why did you transform?"

"What are you talking about? No I didn't!" I blinked, giving him a dirty look but then, suddenly feeling uneasy when I remembered the whole duplicate thing, I lifted my hand to my face and saw a familiar white glove. With a sigh, I changed back and rubbed the back of my neck, blushing as I laughed nervously, "Huh. Looks like I did change after all. Well that WOULD explain the bent fork. I must've transformed subconsciously. I thought it was just you using ghost powers so I tried not to react too much, but when the energy felt different I just, you know, changed out of habit. Um...anyway, thanks for breakfast but I think I'm going to go ba-"

"Oh no, you're not getting out of this that easily little badger. You're obviously still very much on edge, even if you don't want to admit it..." Unfolding his arms and sitting on the stool beside me, because yeah Vlad had one of those kitchens with bar stools, he put a hand on my shoulder then tried and failed not to sound irritated. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about this morning. I have a lot to do and little time to do it but even so, I worry about leaving you alone even for a few hours. It's not that I don't trust YOU not to get into trouble, but trouble always seems to find you when we least expect it. Still, I'm sure you don't want to feel cooped up in your room. That is why for today I'm willing to keep at least that shield down for you so you can come and go from your room as you see fit. Just be aware that I've sealed off the lab and both my ghost portals and should you go snooping about I have cameras all over the mansion. While you are free to explore the interior you are prohibited from going outside since the other shield is still up and if that random Specter was anything to judge by there are still a few ghosts out and about that your parents haven't...caught yet. Needless to say you still must stay out of sight at all costs. You should have access to almost every channel on the television in your room and it has Netflix so you shouldn't get too bored. Sad to say aside from that I don't have much else for you to do since I would prefer that you keep resting. If you are so out of sorts that your ghost powers are still acting up I may have to...short them out again."

Shrugging out from under his hand I shot him a hard glare, "Cool your jets Plasmius, I told you I didn't do it on purpose. It's sort of an instinct these days to change as soon as I sense a ghost the moment I'm out of sight; either invisibly or in a broom closet or something. It's no big deal. Although I did sort of practice bending spoons on a fork-" reaching over, I picked up what was left of it from the counter and dropped it in Vlad's other hand after pulling it towards me. Giving him a little credit I agreed with the being tense part and shrugged, "-Look, Vlad, you already know I don't like how things have turned out and I'm worried about Jazz and my parents but, you're also just plain weirding me out dude. Having you doting on me 24/7 is freaking me out since it usually only means you're plotting something, that's what my gut tells me is going on when it comes to you. Just like transforming into my other half is my first instinct whenever I sense a ghost. It's true that I didn't mean to this time, and usually never do it in front of someone, but it's only you and...I dunno maybe I dropped my guard a little and transformed instinctively to go fight it? Vlad, seriously, if you could just act normal for two seconds maybe I wouldn't keep thinking you're going to do something bad that I need to stop as per usual. I'm not worried about Jazz since you two seem to have found some common ground but...my dad..." staring down at my lap I clenched my fingers tightly, my whole body tensing up again while I tried to keep myself from shaking in front of Vlad, which I was failing miserably at, I told him how I really felt. "You've always hated him ever since your accident so to hear that you hate him even more because my dad shot me has me worried you might get angrier than usual once you see him face to face and end up lashing out at him. Vlad, I already know you have way more self control than I do, but this is different. For the first time in my life...I'm actually scared of them. I'm scared of them killing me. Every memory of their faces and smiles I see now just keeps getting warped into something terrifying and sinister in my head and I can't help but wonder if maybe to stop myself from feeling scared of my parents I'll do what you did and start blindly hating them. Just like how you chose to stop feeling sad and hurt when they left you behind you by becoming the way you are now. I know how serious you are now about keeping me out of their reach but, can you promise me that this trip of yours to my house will really be a quick one and Plasmius free? Look I don't mind if you see Jazz too I guess while you're there but, to be honest I don't feel safe letting you go see my parents. Not until I'm sure that you're not going to hurt them or do something drastic to keep them off our backs. They're still my parents Vlad. Even if they hate me and want to get rid of my ghost half, I'll always love them, no matter what. I'll always fight for them if they're in danger. Because that's who I am. And I can't forget who I am again...no matter what. No matter what, I have to keep living even with this pain. I have to keep living..." I repeated, feeling the teardrops fall on my hands, "If I really have to leave Amity Park behind to keep them safe, that's enough to convince me to go through with it since I'm...not myself right now. Attacking Sam and Tucker really got to me Vlad, I could have killed them! And I don't want to have to fight you to protect my dad if he sets you off! I can't fight you like this! And I can't face my dad either! Not when I keep seeing the hatred in his eyes when he pulled the trigger. What's worse is that I don't know which feeling is stronger, the relief of having some breathing room at least for a little while while you're gone, or this awful dread I have of being left alone after I saw and somehow part of me became HIM. I might be able to stop myself from going over the edge again and hurting myself but Vlad I'm-!"

Suddenly I felt Vlad pull me into his arms and I blinked away my tears in surprise. Vlad didn't say a word even when I asked him what he was doing, he just held me tighter. I guess Vlad noticed I was on the verge of another meltdown and was trying to comfort me. Well it worked too because this time, I trusted him enough to be sure Vlad was serious about keeping me safe, which I haven't honestly felt in a long time.

So even though I didn't hug him back, I let the tears fall freely down my cheeks and sat there limp in his embrace, letting him hold me this time. My mind was all hazy again anyway, making it hard to want to muster the energy to resist, and for a split second I thought he must've put something funny in my food or my drink or something since he brought up the possibility before when I just turned my head to the side and airily thought about nothing but the comfort of Vlad's warmth. I mean I was the one with the fever still but why did his arms feel so warm and secure? Why didn't they feel too strong and oppressive like my dad's hugs did since the guy was freakin' huge? Vlad was probably stronger than him physically yet, to me, right now his arms felt like they were meant to shield me from this unforgiving world. A world that Vlad was all too used to having the things he cared about in it taken away from him...

Maybe that's why I got the weirdest feeling that Vlad was actually worried about facing my dad too, knowing that if he hurt him I would go back to hating him. Was that it? Did Vlad...actually care what I thought of him instead of the other way around...? The thought actually made me smile a little and think, maybe he was changing a bit after all.

* * *

Vlad's POV

Daniel admitting his fears to me aloud might have been a mistake or spilled out of his mouth like his sister's favorite breakfast dish but even so, it moved me that he was expressing that much trust in me while explaining his remaining concerns. And I'll admit it was a valid one. I despised Jack more than ever because of the scars he left on his own son that ran much deeper than my hatred of the man. If things had gone differently 20 years ago Daniel could have been born as MY son and neither of us would be burdened with these powers, though I was still confident enough in my skills and cunning to have still made my millions because while I did _'cheat'_ to get my companies started, once they were established it was my brilliance that kept them from falling second to anyone.

True, genetically speaking Daniel may not have been born at all but I would like to think we were destined to be together in some form because I loved him more than I cared to admit. I yearned to get to know this boy better at the reunion for reasons I could not rightly explain from the start even before I learned that he was the only other of my kind, a half-ghost. Now I was finally getting that chance even though his situation couldn't have been worse even if I had planned out the destruction of Daniel's life personally...which I'll admit I did feel like doing once or twice out of contempt, not knowing that his life wasn't as simple nor stable as he lead me to believe if there has always been this underlying fear of his parents even before he became half of what they despised...

When I embraced Daniel I expected him to get embarrassed or resist but he either didn't have the energy to or was finally accepting comfort from me in this way. I decided to hope for the latter and simply held him close, expressing without any gilded words how deeply I cared and wanted to show him that I wasn't confronting his parents out of anger, although they were both in for a very barbed verbal lashing from me, my main objectives were to make good on my promise to give him a small part of his life back even if was only in the form of a few personal belongings, and of course to make sure his sister Jasmine was alright and putting herself in a better position to watch their parents but resume normal activities like her little brother would want. I was doing this for him out of love, not hate or my usual need for vengeance. And honestly, remaining true to my vindictive ways, the best form of torture I believe I could subject his father to was his own guilt. That is, if the man was even capable of the emotion, which given how I was abandoned for over 20 years by my so-called _'best friend'_ I highly doubted it.

Resting a hand on his head and pressing it closer to me, I assured the troubled boy, "Don't worry little badger, if I didn't trust myself to keep my anger in check I would not be going to Fenton Works in person to see your parents. I told you, as much as I hate Jack I care about you more and the last thing I want is to make you upset with me. I promise you I won't lay a finger on your father..." _although that doesn't mean I won't be sending someone else to teach him a lesson,_ I added silently while softly petting Daniel's surprisingly soft hair. "As for leaving you alone, if anything happens you have my spare cell phone and my errands shouldn't take more than 3 to 4 hours. And while some random ghost decided to scope out my territory by mistake, the outer shield will keep any ghosts from bothering you, the same goes for any humans snooping about." I smirked, knowing full well that Samantha and Mr. Foley were strictly forbidden from going anywhere but school at present due to their grounding so even should they manage to sneak out it would only lengthen the punishment duration. "There's also the matter of that...abnormality with your powers. Due to how unstable they are I've taken the liberty of making use of the chip Jasmine gave me with your ghost signature on it from when you were still supposedly _'missing'_ and programmed my sensors to pick up any unnatural fluctuations in your powers. That way I can return home right away should anything happen and you need my help. I mean that literally too since this town is so minuscule that I could easily teleport twice and reach the mansion in less than five minutes. So there's nothing to worry about little badger, I'll be brief with my discussion with your parents and drop off your things before going to my next appointment. That way I can check up on you. "

Thanks to my soft-spoken tone and reassurance I felt the tension melt from Daniel's shoulders and he silently accepted the comfort I was giving him along with letting himself trust my words. However, Daniel jolted a moment later when out of nowhere, a rather demanding meow reached our ears and we both turned to look down at the white feline. And pulling away from me Daniel stared at her in total disbelief, which granted he didn't recall meeting Maddie several times while he was suffering from his wounds and the first fever.

A knowing smile graced his lips when Daniel finally turned to me and laughed, "No way, I can't believe you ACTUALLY got a cat! No, wait, don't tell me, it's _'your sister's'_ right? Don't want people thinking you're a crazy person with a lonely-guy cat after all."

I couldn't have planned the timing better myself and smiled in response, picking Maddie up after she eyed Daniel curiously then decidedly began rubbing against my leg wanting some attention. Turning to face Daniel again I explained, "Very funny Daniel, but yes, for reasons unknown I decided to take your advice from that time for a laugh or two but then I was blessed with this lovely lady here. Her name is..." I smiled wickedly, anticipating his reaction to the name, "Maddie."

Unable to muster the energy the laugh as hard as he clearly wanted to Daniel rolled his eyes and gently pet her head, snickering, "No surprise there V-man, you're not exactly very original with your names. After all you gave Dani my name but with different spelling. But seriously, you named your cat after my mom? That's just sad."

Frowning a little at his jab, I retorted, "Well at least I named both after someone I admire rather than detest."

His expression fell a little too and he added sadly, "Yeah? Well using them as substitutes didn't make you very happy did it?"

"No," I relented, reaching up to touch his hair again, "I suppose it didn't. Still the fact that you suggested it even as a joke means that in some way, you actually care about me too little badger and didn't want me to stay lonely. And now, I can return the favor. In fact, you may not remember this since you were delirious at the time but Maddie has already taken a liking to you so I'm sure she'll keep you company while I'm gone." Glancing at my watch I sighed and put Maddie down despite her protests and phased the hairs off before turning to Daniel and nodding at his remaining food. "Speaking of which I'm afraid I have to get ready to go so do try to finish what you can and if it's too cold the microwave is above the stove. Ta ta little badger!" I smiled, ruffling his hair before strolling out of the kitchen, glancing back to find Maddie now rubbing against Daniel's legs instead, to whom he stared at with a mixture of mock disgust and fondness since he was secretly pleased he had done me some good after all in some small way. Honestly, could the boy ever stop playing the hero who has to save even a selfish man like me...?

* * *

After making sure the portals and lab were securely locked and the outer shield was still functioning properly, as was anything else Daniel might get into while I was away though I doubted he'd have the energy for any idle exploration, I called my driver and told him to come retrieve me. I had to keep up appearances today after all for two very important tasks. The first one was visiting Daniel's home whilst the second one, well, it was both the more simple and complex of the two since I was making the announcement of my impending retirement. By now most people who knew the Fenton's were aware that Daniel was missing so since the news was already out I could use that to my advantage. By doing this I could put the town's mind at ease and give them a valid reason for my retirement since Daniel was the whole reason I became the mayor in the first place and my primary concern was his safety above all else, which would allow me make my other announcement as well about not leaving the town defenseless against ghosts...

How ironic that I was going to use the same ploy as before to actually release more ghosts into our world to distract Daniel's parents while simultaneously offering my ghost shield technology courtesy of a local company I now own in Amity Park, namely Axion Labs. I did feel slightly guilty about lying to Daniel about not going after his father but this wasn't about doing the man harm, it was about keeping his parents occupied so that I could proceed to move Daniel safely away before they could _'corner'_ me and demand a report since I had yet to get back to them after our last argument. Besides, if nothing else that oaf was more capable than I gave him credit for when his family was at stake, which was the very same quality that destroyed Daniel's life.

At any rate I would be leaving my office to at least somewhat capable hands until they ran a reelection, not that I really cared who took the job, while doing so in good graces since my reason was an honorable one in their eyes and I was offering them the tools to protect their children much better then the Fenton's had. I hated to tarnish Maddie's image along with Jack's but it couldn't be helped. Besides she was a capable woman regardless of the situation and hopefully her maternal instincts would override her ghost hunting once they realized that Daniel wasn't the only child who needed to be protected from ghosts, especially now that a certain Danny Phantom was missing in action and his presence was already being felt since several ghosts who had either been laying low once they reached our world or ones that came from some natural portal here in this town had attacked some civilians, including a young couple who had been taking a stroll in the park which resulted in the young man suffering from a broken arm and a poisonous rash after protecting his girlfriend from some sort of plant ghost. The Guys in White managed to capture it and save the couple but the damage was done. Surely they could see now that this was an incident that normally would have been stopped long before anyone was put in harms way by Danny Phantom who was always quick to respond to a ghost sighting, and now I understood why.

Daniel he...trained himself to react this way.

I couldn't believe my ears when Daniel admitted that he purposefully conditioned himself to respond to a threat so that he couldn't be caught by surprise with how often ghosts appeared around him mainly due to the ghost portal directly below his room and the simple fact that he was considered by many said ghosts as a worthy challenger these days. Too bad they forgot that he was also a human boy with a life outside of fighting them as well as the actual need to sleep. Depending on the ghost, most didn't need to sleep unless they were recovering from an injury and only ate for their enjoyment. Because what sort of ghost could possibly starve to death? That is unless it was one that fed off some external form of energy not found in the Ghost Zone.

But even then, that would only leave them weaker than normal, not on the verge of dying. That wasn't how ghosts functioned. They didn't need _'energy'_ to sustain themselves, no, they craved _'power'_ and followed their most base urges to obtain it or achieve some goal since the other ones no longer existed for them if said ghost was once human. The rest just got by on the ambient ectoenergy that made up the Ghost Zone and simply continued to exist with no sense of purpose other than to wander the realm aimlessly until something caught their interest or they faded away...

In any case that was yet another reason Daniel was better off with me since he wouldn't have to react in such a way anymore. I could give him the chance to relax for once and not be constantly vigilant of possible threats everywhere he went. He was a boy after all, not some soldier in the army. Every day didn't have to be a battle for him. Instead Daniel could choose how to put his powers to better use for every day life like I had and perhaps put his enemies in their place so they knew never to cross him again or threaten his loved ones without consequence. Daniel needed to learn how to choose his battles more wisely without being caught off guard every time and winging it.

I was thinking about all this during the drive over when before I knew it we were already there. I didn't have a briefcase or anything as I would if I was out on business but the driver opened the door for me anyway and I stepped out, nodding at him to dismiss the man and told him to wait there for me while I visited my old college friend. Thankfully the media knew better than to bother the Fentons since they got too much attention as it was already because of their ghost obsession and any reporters who tried to get an inside scoop were often mistaken for government agents or ghosts and covered head to toe in ecto-goo. I even anonymously sent a reporter to their house once under the pretense of a hefty reward should they manage to get some embarrassing footage or pictures of Jack Fenton when in truth I was only testing their home security system against human invaders and the reporter I hired was someone I was aiming to get back at anyway for getting a rather embarrassing photo of me. As expected the man was scarred for life by the encounter and decided to become a chef at some local restaurant instead so I heard after their encounter. I personally didn't dig into the story behind their choice after that because it had the desired effect and frankly I couldn't care less as long as the man never took another photograph in his life.

I perked up however when even from the streets I heard shouting coming from inside the house and my eyes narrowed dangerously. Those idiots, didn't they realize their daughter was probably studying? That and they were disturbing the neighbors. Not that their neighbors weren't used to odd sounds, flashes of light, and likely explosions from their home so perhaps they soundproofed their homes? Whatever the case might be I intended to put a stop to it and hoped that they could even hear me knock with all their useless prattling.

Composing myself, I took a deep breath and dusted off my suit when too my surprise the voices grew even louder and I managed to make out Jasmine's voice above the din. "...this is all your fault! None of this would have happened if it wasn't for your obsession with ghosts! Not the accident, and certainly not this! Did it ever occur to you that maybe Danny was friends with that ghost which is why he was around here all the time? Can't you even stop to consider that some ghosts might be good since some of them were PEOPLE once like Vlad told you? Well I've had enough! I told you it was either me or the ghost hunting too and it's clear which one matters more! I'm leaving and you can't stop me. I don't even know who you are anymore and I can't keep watching you two act like this and come home covered in guts from hurting ghosts that might not even be a threat if you just left the stupid things alone! If you need me I'll be at the Hilton Hotel in Ultra Posh Springs. And don't bother showing up unless you actually want to talk to me about my feelings!"

After that Jasmine's angry footsteps reached the front door which burst open and she looked up at me in surprise, hefting a large duffle bag over her shoulder and once again her cheeks were glossy with a fresh coat of tears. Furious about this, my eyes briefly flashed red even through my narrowed gaze but only she was close enough to see it. Her eyes grew wide and glassy again and for a moment she looked conflicted, unsure to how to respond to my presence at the worst of times...

I of course knew exactly what to do and shot a glare at Jack and Maddie before softening my gaze and taking her shoulders, smiling sadly, "It would seem I should have called ahead of time after all. Are you alright my dear?"

"Vlad? What are you doing here?" Maddie frowned, shooting a glare at me as well. "Did you really buy her a hotel room behind our backs?! What gives you the right to do that? Answer me!"

"She's right, we were handing it!" Jack nodded stupidly, trying to play the role of supportive husband instead of worried father like he should have been which only made me that much angrier but for Daniel's sake and Jasmine's I kept my fury contained.

"Yes, clearly you were since your eldest daughter is in tears!" I snapped venomously, pulling out my red handkerchief and offering it to Jasmine while still staring the two down, moving her aside as if to shield her from their gaze and then proceeded to eloquently take the duffle bag off her shoulder to set it on the floor at our feet. Confused, Jasmine stared at me blankly after accepting the handkerchief, sniffling, and wiped her damp eyes with it. Smiling again though my tone was a mixture of gentle and firm I told her, "Jasmine, sweetheart, please go wait in your room until someone comes to get you and I'll explain to them what's going on since it might come better from me than you while you're this upset. Allow your uncle Vlad to handle this, alright? I came here to tell them something important about your brother anyway which is best done between adults for now. However if you still intend to leave then I'll have my driver take you wherever you need to go. I don't want you driving in your condition and getting in an accident. Besides, lets see if I can help your parents understand where you are coming from since understandably this has been a hard time on all of you. There might still be a way to resolve this. Sound fair?"

Looking between me and her parents, Jasmine finally dropped her shoulders in defeat and nodded tearfully, "Ok..."

"That's a good girl," I smiled, kissing her brow before guiding her to the staircase and watching her ascend them, giving her a knowing look in hopes of Jasmine realizing I would be sending a duplicate up there soon to gather the things I needed from Daniel's room. She seemed to understand and graced me with a sad smile before heading up to her room and shutting the door. And the moment Jasmine was out of sight, those who knew me in the business world would have known to be afraid as I turned with deliberate slowness, both hands behind my back, then in a cold calculating tone I said, "It seems we have much to discuss in regards to BOTH of your children again. And you two have a lot of explaining to do as to why Jasmine once again felt the need to come to me rather than yourselves in her time of need when I specifically told you to take better care of her while her brother is missing, did I not?"

"W-well I-! She-" Jack stammered, feeling ashamed of himself and as usual he looked to Maddie for an answer being too stupid to come up with one himself.

Before Maddie could cover for him I cut them off and with an eerie calmness I strode past them into the living room where I moved a chair in front of the sofa and sat down, legs crossed, back straight as if I were at a business meeting and offered, "Jack, Maddie, please take a seat. I don't have much time and there's something I need to tell you. It's about Daniel..."


	26. The Devil You Know

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 25: The Devil You Know

* * *

Vlad's POV

The moment I mentioned Daniel's name, the onslaught of questions and baseless accusations began assaulting my ears from the Fenton couple but I simply waited it out. By allowing them to vent and exhaust themselves once they ran out of steam as it were it would leave them wide open to my carefully laid out plans of ensuring that this time they left the search to me entirely. Because in the end they knew they needed my help since their own search had proved in vain. As such I was the only person with enough influence to expand the search radius since as I said before it was very likely they were no longer anywhere near the town of Amity Park anymore and an aimless search across the states would be impossible. Besides which it would leave Jasmine to fend for herself which was why I stepped in to do so since they had already left her in such a position with their incessant ghost hunting theatrics.

Clearly the two of them were quite sleep-deprived themselves so I didn't have to endure their side of the argument for long. And once they fell silent without me so much as uttering a word before then, I offered to get them both some water before we _'continued'_ although really they had spent the last hour shouting nonsensically and irately at me. Reluctantly they agreed to let me get them some drinks and I seized the opportunity to create a duplicate to attend to the other task I had set out to do here and have it check up on Jasmine. It was an extension of myself so I could easily send it impressions of what I needed it to do or say and was a master at multitasking, which I of course had to be to manage 3 separate duplicates at once with enough power to still pose a threat. Reabsorbing it's memories would be slightly jarring but I was used to it...

At any rate, I promptly returned with two glasses of ice water and took a moment to evaluate the two of them. While I'm sure they had multiple copies of the same hazmat suits I noticed theirs were worse for wear and there were signs of ectoplasmic stains on the cloth, which was odd since the fabric was usually laced with something that made it slide off like water off a duck's back to avoid _'contamination'_ as they saw it. Both Maddie and Jack had dark circles under their eyes, their skin was flushed, and their hair was disheveled and unkempt. Also, was it just me or did even Jack look a tad thin...? Either way I noted that even as weary as the couple was there was still this almost maddening determination burning in their eyes, which at least meant they still cared enough about Daniel not to give up the search. And that only proved that they would indeed need the _'ghostly distraction'_ I had in store to avoid them doing anything else too rash on their own right now. Although after our argument from the last time, I highly doubted they'd listen to even half of my advice which was precisely why in a way I was indulging their delusion of being even remotely helpful in their desperate search by reducing the number of ghosts in general.

"Now, IF you two are quite finished then allow me to explain myself," I began in a cold business-like tone to let them know in no uncertain terms that I'd had enough of their nonsense. "First of all, I have told you multiple times how much your family means to me. And that includes young Jasmine. As such when she came to speak to me I felt it was my duty to console her because to be perfectly frank...you two are frightening the poor girl. I understand your concern for Daniel but it has been a week now with no sign of him even when you've gone out night after night hunting and torturing any ghost you find; or so I assume seeing as you come home covered in ectoplasmic blood. That is enough to frighten any child and therefore I decided to take responsibility for Jasmine's well-being and remove her enough from the situation to allow her to continue normal activities without feeling afraid in her own house. Maddie, Jack, I hope you realize I did this because Jasmine was on the verge of running away from home altogether because of your carelessness!" Staring down the two harshly as they fidgeted guiltily I sighed and continued, "I already have my best people trying to track Daniel down but so far nothing of note has come up and frankly, there have been several incidents at City Hall that have taken my attention away from the search to attend to the rest of the town's ghost problems. I'm sure you heard about the couple attacked the other day I presume? As ghost hunters, protecting the PEOPLE should be your top priority, not making more enemies out of the more dangerous ghosts by being the ones looking for a fight! What will you do if a ghost comes after Jasmine next hmm? Will you shoot her too claiming she's possessed?! Will you rush off again without a plan and ultimately die and become ghosts yourselves, haunted by the fact that you failed to protect your family? And oh yes she told me all about the time that you also stalked her at school and proceeded to catch her in a net in plain sight without thinking for one second that should have been seen as assault resulting in the government taking her away from you due to child endangerment! If they knew you actually SHOT DANIEL WITH A GUN! Having her taken would be the least of your worries. You'd be arrested! She has been covering for you because that isn't what she wants at all and neither would Daniel so for pities sake think about what you're doing for once! Look at you! You're falling apart and so is your family because of rash decision you made to harm an otherwise harmless ghost that took your son away to protect himself! Studying ghosts is one thing, but to make an enemy of them is something else entirely and trust me when I say that if you don't stop this and let me handle it, eventually you will come face to face with a ghost who will be out for blood and will go after your remaining child to do so!"

"We can't just give up now," Maddie began dejectedly, her voice weak and cracked from shouting so much. "Danny needs us."

"Blast it all woman that's exactly the point!" I rebuked, unable to soften my tone even for her anymore. "He needs you to still be here living your lives to the fullest so there's something to come home to after all this but Maddie, have either of you considered that he might not WANT to come back after what you two did to him even though Danny _'Phantom'_ was sharing a body with him? He might remember your husband shooting him, and you LETTING him. Tell me, would that inspire the confidence of any traumatized child? Especially one that's only 14 years old? Even when I do find him, because believe me, I will, it may take time for him to recover from the emotional scars you've left on him. On Jasmine as well because of your obsession with ghosts. True we know for sure they exist now as opposed to our college days, however, it is one thing to invent things to track or shield you from them, it is quite another to arm yourselves and go out looking for a fight. We know how dangerous they are which is what inspired me to take on this job as your mayor to protect the populace of this town and the next generation from ghost attacks..." closing my eyes, I finally told them, "...most of all, it was Daniel in particular who inspired me to leave my old life behind and come here to be closer to you and to him, so the fact that he is missing means that the reason I came is more important to me then the task itself. That is why as of today, I am stepping down from my seat at office to dedicate my time to working on ways to further protect the people of this town and your family from ghosts. His safety matters more to me than anything else because he's..." really, I gagged before saying he was my best friend's son but covered it up by letting some crocodile tears form in my eyes that I swiped away before taking a deep breath whilst the two of them gasped.

"You're quitting? Because of us? V-man I don't know what to say! I know you said things have been busy sure but are you sure that you're ok with abandoning the job to help us look for Danny?" Jack asked, for once sounding skeptical and unsure.

I nodded, "I'm quitting because Daniel needs me more, that's the truth of it. However I do not intend to leave the town helpless once I do and I was hoping you'd be willing to help. If not then-"

"Of-of course we'll help! Anything to help you find our son faster and put a stop to those spooks!" Jack blurted out, leaping up off the couch.

"Jack honey, I don't think...?" Maddie began unsurely when I stood from my seat and not caring how it looked to her or Jack, I took her hand in mine and gave it a squeeze, smiling sadly since in a way...this was my way of bidding my love for her farewell in exchange for devoting it to Daniel from now on as a father figure.

"Maddie, I've only ever had your family's best interests at heart so please, forgive me for doubting your love for Jasmine and going behind your backs. I was simply putting her needs first like I am now doing so for Daniel. Besides, it's true that I need to return my focus to the companies I own since managing all three is too much even for someone such as myself and we both know it doesn't do to spread yourselves too thin. And you my dear are clearly pushing yourself too hard. You won't be any good to your daughter or him if you collapse or wind up in the hospital. That's why I'm asking you to trust me, both of you, like you once did before we drifted apart. And I promise you that I'll do everything within my power to return Daniel to you..." _And if not that, I will be sure to protect him from now on since I truly think that perhaps the only person I was destined to love was him after all..._ I added silently, watching as tears formed in Maddie's eyes and they fell silently upon my hand, as cold and fleeting as my feelings were now towards this woman who had become nothing more than a memory, a shadow of a dream that would never see the light of day.

* * *

Meanwhile, upstairs while I was convincing her parents to leave as much of the search to me as they could for their sake and Jasmine's, my duplicate had long since made his presence known to the distraught 16 year old. Of course it was just easier to keep it in ghost form instead of as another Vlad Masters so I thought nothing of how nervous it made her. Then again it might not have been about the duplicate at all since she was at her wit's end again. Therefore I had my other self console her a bit telling her I'd do what I could and Jasmine seemed a little relieved at least before a tired sigh escaped her lips and she stood up from the bed, motioning the duplicate over.

"I was planning on stopping by again before going to the hotel but I packed kind of hastily so...there are a few things still left in Danny's room that I forgot. Just grab whatever else you need from my bag once we're out of sight ok? I'm too tired to deal with any of this..." Jasmine of course didn't wait for any indication that I was following before heading to Daniel's room...

As expected the blood had long since been cleaned up but I noticed how she still shuttered at the memory of where it was. After that Jasmine pointed out the NASA poster above Daniel's bed, the closest, and his laptop then told me what she already had packed with her and tiredly waved my duplicate off, telling them that she needed some time alone so through it I respected her wishes. Although before I did I, or rather my duplicate, flashed her a smile and wished her luck from here on and told her that Daniel was awake and that I would keep my word about trying to arrange a meeting soon which made her perk up hopefully, thank me, and to my surprise give me a soft peck on the cheek before returning to her room.

It was strange, but I could almost feel the same warmth on my own cheek downstairs but resisted the urge to touch it since I was still in the middle of spelling everything out to Jack and Maddie about my intention not only to announce my retirement to the entire town, but also my plans for moving back to Wisconsin and commissioning Axion Labs to begin work on ghost shield technology that the general public could use although it would be some time before it became available or even affordable aside from the one I was going to donate to none other than Casper High which for _'whatever reason'_ was a hot spot for ghosts in this town and where children like Daniel were exposed to the most danger.

This time I felt a genuine twinge of guilt knowing I was purposefully exposing her parents to the same danger concerning ghosts but it couldn't be helped. Daniel's needs went above hers and theirs and she knew that full well by now. Other than that they were more than a match for any lesser spirits and the smarter ones would do well to remember that if I lay out certain terms it does not bode well for them to double cross me and take things too far. I could care less if they _'took over'_ the town, but to keep up appearances I would side with the common folk defending themselves while leaving things mostly to the so-called professionals since that WAS their job after all. I would merely give them to tools to do so. Whether or not they made good use of them was really up to them...

Granted I would be leaving most of it to the head of security there who in truth was one of the few capable men I knew in this town, it was Miss Grey's father in fact. I'm sure she was going to take the news as quite the shock given how she already hated Daniel's alter-ego and secretly worked for me as a ghost huntress herself. I would avoid further tarnishing Danny Phantom's good name in case Daniel does watch the news announcement under the pretense of wanting only a select few to know he was the one who _'took'_ Daniel since I did not want anyone else being careless and hurting him even more. As for Valerie, I would have to deal with her as well and the easiest thing to do would enlist her help and _'trust her'_ with the truth that Danny Phantom was the ghost who abducted her friend so he needed to be captured _'alive,'_ or as alive as a ghost could be which again could work to my advantage. And with all that settled, all there would be left to do was move Daniel away from here then enlist the ghosts who were going to serve as distractions for Jack and Maddie, possibly Valerie too since I would _'release'_ them soon after word got out that I was going to begin pooling my resources into making ghost shield technology to essentially put a stop to their fun which to some might make them genuinely angry for ruining their big plans of conquest. Then again, the moment it was confirmed that Danny Phantom was missing in action they'd risk it and seize the opening anyway while the only true threat besides me was no longer an obstacle. That's when, much to my secret delight, Jack told me they were going to reactivate the ghost portal to run more tests on the ectoplasmic energy there before making a trip into the Ghost Zone despite my protests before. Although Maddie made sure to assure me they were going to do so only with the utmost care so that eventually Jasmine would feel better about coming home again.

I couldn't have planned it better myself! Now I wouldn't have to do anything aside from rile up a few ghosts and coax them into coming here! Plus it meant I wouldn't have to reconstruct my old portal after all and leave it out in the woods somewhere, though perhaps I could still find some use for it. At any rate, time was running short but even so I allowed my duplicate ample time to absorb the details of Daniel's room for me to revisit later when I reabsorbed it since I was curious to know more about him and this apparent love for Space travel. I've seen glimpses of his room of course and the footage from my spy cameras but actually being in the room knowing that Daniel was with me now made it feel so...final. It was like I knew he would be staying with me from now on and the other me smiled at the thought while gathering as much as I dared to without it making the room look too bare before making yet another duplicate to load everything into the trunk of my limousine.

The laptop of course would be the most obvious thing absent but Jasmine assured me she'd tell them she took it to see if Daniel had any recent pictures of himself to use for a missing person's poster or something of the sort. It surprised me that Maddie didn't have anything recent of either of her children until I assumed they were just too busy outside of the holidays to devote much time to parental bonding, except for the time I devised a plan to lure her and Daniel to me in the Rockies and convince her to leave Jack since he was unworthy of her love. Again, the irony of THAT being when Daniel suggested I buy a cat was almost comical.

Other than that I instructed my duplicate to grab some of Daniel's clothing when I noticed how tattered and threadbare much of it was. Just how long have they been letting him traipse around in this garbage? It wasn't as if they were impoverished when they had enough to spend on their inventions and countless house repairs. Or better yet gave him enough allowance to buy some decent clothes? Then again, his wallet was almost bare when I found his spare so I doubted they cared enough to even entertain the idea of ACTUALLY paying him an allowance for doing all those household chores he was so often punished for not doing according to him and Jasmine alike. But who could blame him? He was working much harder than either of their parents even realized and then had nothing to show for it even when he did manage to get them done! Daniel even clarified this himself during one of his rants.

Honestly the only somewhat decent thing in there was the suit Daniel wore during the reunion but even that was sporting a few wrinkles and stains, in fact it was even missing a button! And no I am NOT obsessed with suits, I just prefer them to stand as a trademark or a reminder of who holds the most power and riches when I'm expected to be in the company of others, and furthermore out of habit I rarely wore anything else even in my down time...

Clearly I would have to do something about this too for Daniel to give him a taste of what a better life with me could mean even if it was just clothes that better _'suited'_ him and improve his quality of life. I doubt I'd get proper measurements from any of these rags anyway, so the easiest way to get them would be to run a full medical exam on Daniel the first chance I got now that he was awake. I've been meaning to do that anyway to make sure he's healing properly. For now I had a general idea of what his size was and could probably stay within the estimated size range. My biggest concern would be getting him some decent pants since the ones he wore were practically Jack's size given how bulky and baggy they were around his ankles. He might think them girly but surely Daniel would look more dignified in some boot-cut jeans or even skinny jeans since as of right now as much as he's grown Daniel was still rather...lanky I believe the term is.

Alright I'll admit it, while I knew Daniel wasn't a doll I couldn't help but enjoy the idea of polishing his look a bit to make him much more respectable since it was the least he deserved after living such a life of hardship. I had no idea how thoroughly his own dreams were dismissed to become the heir to Fenton Works when clearly Daniel wanted to be involved in the space program. As what though I wasn't sure yet. But given how many model rockets he had built with surprisingly deft hands that were strung up to the roof I could safely assumed he wanted to be an astronaut. That would explain why Daniel was so quick to master flying since it gave him the freedom he imagined traveling in space would be like. Too bad for now the only traveling he'd be doing any time soon was out of Amity Park...


	27. When We're Alone

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 26: When We're Alone...

 _(Chapter inspired by Never Alone by Barlow Girl)_

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Danny's POV

Even though Vlad didn't leave all that long ago, I was already getting kinda creeped out by how eerily quiet it was. Seriously you could almost hear a pin drop. And I wasn't just saying that either. Then again, maybe I was so used to all of the strange noises at my house that anything even remotely close to silence just wasn't normal to me and set me on edge. But this WAS Vlad we were talking about who lived by himself so he had all these empty rooms that were filled with who knows what just to show off how rich he was.

By the time I finished the Swedish pancakes Vlad made me I was painfully aware of how alone I was, which was both a good and bad thing. Good because it meant none of Vlad's ghost goons were around, but bad since I now had what I asked for...time to think. I've been avoiding it because no matter what I did, I couldn't figure out a way out of this mess without losing something important, like these changes happening in Vlad...

Shaking my head before I could start dwelling on my problems again, I sighed, especially when I thought about the daunting task of going back upstairs to my room since Vlad had to help me get down here in the first place. In the end, I decided to risk transforming and floated up instead. After that I changed back and walked close to the wall just in case I needed it for support. Luckily I didn't feel too bad after eating something like Vlad said and-

I stopped walking when what happened earlier suddenly flashed through my mind and I stared down at my hands, flexing them as I wondered, "I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting better but...seriously since when have I been strong enough to crush things like that? The rush of ghost power I felt this time when I sensed that ghost was way more intense then usual too. It was like...without thinking I sort of snapped into battle mode and automatically assumed Vlad was the source of it and honed in on him." Frowning, I muttered, "That's stupid. At least right now he's not being the usual fruitloop so what the heck is wrong with me? Maybe my powers are having issues again because of what happened and I just have to get better then they'll go back to normal, right? After that I have to find some way to reach Cloc-!"

Realizing that Vlad had security cameras rigged all over the place I stopped myself before going any further then that in case since I didn't want Vlad to know about Clockwork let alone think I was about to run off on him. I mean, I wasn't running away from anything this time and just needed answers. Answers about things that I wasn't comfortable with him knowing...

I sighed, having finally made it back to my room and feeling totally worn out again. I was tempted to go back to sleep when I decided not to since I didn't want to have another nightmare. The one last night got pretty bad and I woke up in a cold sweat, in fact the whole room felt like a refrigerator so it wasn't my ghost sense going off, that's usually a specific sort of chill. Anyway it took me about an hour to get back to sleep so yeah, as crappy as I felt I wasn't in a sleeping mood. Might as well pick a movie since I had the freedom to watch whatever I wanted.

I was so use to our small TV at home, well ok I wasn't THAT small but this thing was huge compared to that and took up most of the wall across from the bed which meant I could still see everything without being that close. After scrolling through the different genre's I would almost pick one then think that Sam or Tucker would have liked watching it with me and got all depressed. Their words were still ringing in my ears and even though I know they were just worried about me a lot of what they said really hurt. I KNEW it was risky staying with Vlad and trusting him with at least vaguely knowing about Dan but neither of them understood how freaked out I've been ever since it happened. His last words have haunted me and Jazz can testify that I've woken up screaming their names before, seeing them die in front of me or I'm the one being forced to do it myself to become my jerky future self...

Eventually I gave up on picking the sort of movie I'd usually watch since everything I picked was either nostalgic or had guns in it since I liked zombie movies and I'd flinch if there was one on the cover when my dad's angry face and the barrel of that weird ecto-gun flashed across my mind. So I decided to pick something safe like a comedy or some cartoon. Once I picked something I began sort of half-watching the first few episodes of a show I liked for awhile before eventually I got bored of it, so I picked out a movie instead afterwords and grabbed a light snack and a water bottle from the fridge in my room. Figures Vlad wasn't going to let me have soda yet since I really could have gone for a cola right about now.

The movie I picked turned out to be a ghost story called The Others and it was about this mom and her two kids that were allergic to sunlight. I felt bad for those kids not being allowed to go outside since the UV rays would kill them. I just wasn't allowed outside since there were still ghosts around and ghost hunters, mainly my parents. As for the mom, she was super paranoid which made sense but then her new servants turned out to be ghosts and despite myself I snickered, wishing real life was like this where ghosts couldn't interact with people the way the ones we know do. It'd make my job so much easier just to splash a bunch of holy water around instead of going fisticuffs to get them to back off.

These days, ghost stories were more harmlessly annoying then anything since I could make fun of how wrong they were about ghosts. Still, when I started the movie I was a bit apprehensive about the mansion bit since I was actually going to be moving in with Vlad back to his. Then again, I kinda gave the Guys in White a fake tip and it got demolished again so...had Vlad rebuilt it already? I suppose so if he was moving us there. The guy worked fast and had plenty of money to motivate people to get things done so yeah...it wouldn't surprise me.

I was watching one of the subtle creepy parts when the door started closing on it's own behind the mom when my ghost hearing picked up a second door creaking open and I jolted in surprise, pausing the movie to look. It was still opening slowly as I watched and I wondered if Vlad was back but if it was wouldn't he have knocked so he wouldn't startle me? My heart was hammering slightly when a small white head poked itself in and I sighed in relief.

"Oh geez it was just you! You nearly gave me a heart attack you stupid snowball!" I laughed nervously, reluctantly getting up to shut the door behind her and picked the cat up, who immediately curled closer to my chest and rubbed her head against my chin.

After that I turned the TV completely off since the choice of film turned out to be something that still triggered me, as annoying as it was that everything seemed to lately, and I sat on my bed idly petting Maddie. Not sure how long I did that for but for some reason the tension was still there, like I felt as though I was being watched even though I knew for a fact that Maddie and I were the only living things in the house at the moment and if there had been any of Vlad's ghost lacky's they'd probably been told to stay away from me or were unable to get in with Vlad's human and ghost shield up plus the portals were closed. However, when I felt a familiar chill rush up my spine and a puff of cold air escaped my lips I gently set Maddie on the floor again then called to see if anyone was there.

No answer.

"Great, now I'M getting paranoid," I grumbled, transforming into my ghost form despite Vlad urging me to avoid while my powers were on the fritz but hey if there was an unwelcome ghost around here I had every right to defend myself and even Vlad couldn't argue with that. Besides, he'd want to know if anything else slipped in after the whole rogue duplicate thing since we still weren't sure yet if I caused that to happen or if something else more sinister was at work.

It was easier and frankly more comfortable for me to fly and float around anyway so I went around giving the house a sweep until I wound up in Vlad's personal study where the door to the lab was, which I checked and of course it was locked. Still, that didn't put my mind at ease so I went to look for Vlad's second portal. And sure enough, I found it behind some fancy painting like any old cliché villain's hidden things. It was locked up tight too but I could still feel _'something'_ just beyond it.

A strange feeling came over me as I pressed both hands to the sealed portal that I could only describe as a yearning, like, I really wanted to get this open somehow so that I could absorb the ectoenergy pulsating on the far side of this metal door. I've never felt like this before and it was kinda scary so I pulled my hands away and flipped the switch again so the painting swung back into place. I mean sure I was half-ghost but this was the first time that my ghost half felt so...needy? I'm not sure how else to describe it. I've felt something similar after a long and hard fight when it was like my ghost half needed to recharge with something besides normal human food and all I had to do was stand in front of an open ghost portal and I'd start feeling better right away. Maybe it was a ghost thing since they didn't need food to survive but rather craved more energy and I was no exception, at least not when I was in worse shape then usual like I was right now...

That pull was still there even as I floated away from the second portal but the moment I turned human again, the sudden absence of that urge was more jarring then I expected and I got a little dizzy. Gripping my head I sagged against the nearest wall and waited for it to pass. But it only got worse so I eased myself onto the floor and pressed my head against the wall, willing it to go away. That's when a faint whisper reached my ears and I opened my eyes only just, wondering if I was imagining it or still thinking about that ghost movie.

Great my vision was getting blurry again and I still wasn't sure what it was I was sensing. Or was I only feeling drawn to the Ghost Zone because my ghost powers weren't up to snuff yet and some sort of survival instinct was urging me to go there? Were those whispers my own thoughts? Were they the ambient voices from the other side calling to my ghost half? Well whatever it was, it was winning. Because before I knew it I was on my feet again, incoherent voices muttering in my ears, urging me to go back to the portal one step at a time. But what was the point? I couldn't get it open...

Unless-

Raising the hand I'd been using to hold my head, I reached for that familiar feeling from the other side of the ghost portal and...pulled it towards me instead of the other way around. It was like part of me knew how to do it even if I didn't and green sparks started to crackle between my fingertips when-

"Wah!" All of a sudden my powers shorted out on me and I crashed to the floor, panting. I didn't even manage to catch my breath or completely snap out of it before my vision darkened and I could have sworn I heard Dan's laughter, the kind I'd heard in my dreams while he was mocking me.

My vision was fading in and out of focus when a pair of boots entered my line of sight and he smirked, _"Looks like you still have a long ways to go before you catch up to me, Danny. But don't worry... I promise that you will...and then you'll truly be free to go and do whatever you want. And in turn...so will I..."_ I opened my mouth to reply but it was too late, I was already sinking into darkness again. However, the moment that I blacked out, something else echoed in my head, a promise that I already knew what I needed to do to feel better. All I had to do, was stop playing by the rules and do it. I refused, though my body was punishing me for doing so by feeling even heavier, and I was probably out for a solid half an hour before waking up again and playing it safe by wobbly walking back to my room normally.

As soon as I got there, Maddie was eager and waiting for me so she rubbed against my legs but I ignored her. I felt so...detached and troubled by what just happened as a result of my poor choice in movies and choices. I couldn't even relax here alone without something going wrong. I felt so helpless and alone. So before I knew it, I was staring out the window with Maddie curled in my lap to comfort me as tired helpless tears fell and I actually found myself hoping that Vlad was going to be home soon. Yes, that's right, I was actually lonely enough to want Vlad to come back as soon as possible and replace this helplessness with something solid...something real like the feeling that for once I might actually have someone who I could depend on to save me when no matter what I did, I fell short.


	28. A Heavy Heart

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 27: A Heavy Heart

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Vlad's POV

It was to be expected that Maddie and her husband would be upset by the time I said all that needed to be said and wove my intricate web of lies to keep them exactly where I wanted them which was out of my hair. The situation with their daughter proved useful too as it reconfirmed the fact that I was a friend trying to do what I could to help their family and point out where they were falling short. As for Jasmine herself, while she had managed to calm her nerves only slightly from speaking to my duplicate it was clear that her choice was already made. She promised to call them once she settled in but told her parents in no uncertain terms that until they changed their methods of conduct at home and out ghost hunting, Jasmine was not going to set foot in there until her brother was safe or at the very least they came home at a reasonable hour after CAPTURING ghosts, and not destroying them and returning drenched in ectoplasm. Of course both of them tried to convince her one last time to reconsider but Jasmine was a stubborn one and flat out refused.

I had to commend her for standing up to her parents when really, as I pointed out once before, Jasmine is still a minor and could not legally support herself as of yet. Originally Jasmine planned to stay with a friend but then realized she didn't want to impose and if the parents of said friend became concerned for her safety the very thing she left to avoid would happen when a police officer got involved. I was her best option as a cover story at least, however, neither of us could risk exposing Daniel if Jasmine was supposedly staying with me so I also had to keep her from being directly involved with me even though I was considered a friend of the family. Eventually Jasmine would go home, she had to, but a lot of that depended on Jack and Maddie themselves realizing the extremes they've been imposing on their children for years now that had finally reached its peak. Daniel was now gone, abducted by a spirit THEY wounded, and now Jasmine was so frightened of anything ghost related they did that reminded her of what happened along with the possibility of it happening again if they continued to make enemies like this that she could no longer bear staying one more minute under that roof.

As for my objective, my duplicate had taken care of everything and only took enough that would not be missed or too obvious even to two positively blind and clueless individuals such as Jack and Maddie Fenton. Ironically the object I was most interested in was Daniel's laptop. He might have some information stored there that could help me learn more about this mysterious unnamed horror tormenting my little badger, or if not that I could learn something from one of his allies with a little persuading now that Daniel was in a manner of speaking under MY protection rather than my enemy anymore. Well no, it was a certainty that Daniel wasn't my enemy and in truth never was, we were rivals more than anything even though I'll admit I did go too far on a number of occasions recently...

Even so, back to the matter at hand, since Maddie and Jack were still guilt-stricken and weary, I took 'pity' on them seeing as I gave them quite a verbal thrashing so as Jasmine stepped into the limousine, I turned to them and said, "Not to worry, I'm sure she will be home before you know it once you've all had time to reflect on your choices and concerns for Daniel. I'll be sure to remind her to call you every so often just to be sure she's alright and if it helps, I could hire a private bodyguard or give her one of my prototype ghost shields. I can assure you it works although the range on the smaller ones is...well, rather small. So do cheer up. Also," I grew stern again and insisted, "I want you both to get some rest tonight which means NO ghost hunting. I will make sure that my agents are out on patrol tonight even though there has been a lack of ghost activity lately, we can't let our guard down since, ironically, they might have grown restless due to rumors of the ghost-boy's disappearance and are simply biding their time before mounting an assault on this town. I want us both to be prepared for that regardless of whether I am moving away or not because your safety matters as much to me as Daniel and Jasmine's do. So I suggest that rather then work on your weaponry, fortify your defenses so that nothing can slip past you again. Perhaps that too will reassure Jasmine that you'll stop picking these fights with random specters still wandering the area."

"Vladdy...just...let Jazzy-pants know we love her and one way or another we'll get Danny back!" Jack sniffled, wishing his daughter would have at least let them say goodbye before climbing into the vehicle. "We didn't mean to scare her, honest..."

Maddie nodded but unlike her husband, strolled over to the limousine and tapped on the window, waiting for Jasmine to roll it down before smiling sadly and promising, "Jazz sweetie, I know your father and I haven't been very considerate of you lately but that doesn't mean we love you any less. If you need some time away from us then...its ok. Just promise to let us know if you need anything and that you're doing alright-" gently cupping her cheek with one of her gloved hands, Maddie half-sobbed, "-I can't bear to lose you too. We'll do what we can for your brother and tone things down so that Vlad can do his part. When that happens, please, promise me you'll come home."

Accepting her mother's touch and glancing at Jack, Jasmine nodded tearfully too and rested her hand over the one on her cheek as she replied, "I'll be alright mom, I promise. I'm worried about Danny too but that's no excuse for you two doing things that make me worry about your safety too. The other day, I saw that Dad was hurt too and..." glancing at me then back to her mother, she pleaded, "As long as you promise not to be reckless anymore, I promise to come home when I'm ready. Until then, stay safe alright Mom?"

Looking as though she never wanted to let go Maddie bit her lip and nodded, "We'll be fine sweetie, so will Danny, you'll see."

Before Jack could ruin the moment by crying all over the place too, I decided to take my leave with a few parting words of reassurance before allowing the driver to open the door to my side of the limousine and settling in next to Jasmine, who was barely holding herself together. After that moment between her and her mother Jasmine looked about ready to change her mind and go back which would only enable her parents to neglect her all over again so she steeled herself for that and waited for us to get as far from here as possible. I obliged her by instructing the driver to make the detour to the Hilton Hotel which was in the same neighborhood as my mansion, although I don't think either of us were ready to have Jasmine meet with Daniel again just yet since this turn of events had been rather draining for both of us.

Unlike Jasmine though, my day was far from over and I only had about an hour left before making my announcement to the press about my retirement, which meant I had to make the most of my time. And by that I mean making sure Daniel was alright since to be honest, I was hesitant to leave him alone for too long even as a gesture of trust because frankly he was too...unpredictable at the moment which could prove detrimental to his health given what happened during the last breakdown nearly decimated my lab and it brought back the fever I've been working so hard to bring down for the past few days.

Speaking of breakdowns, Jasmine was clearly stifling her tears in my presence so offhandedly I told her, "You can drop the formalities now my dear, there's no one here to judge you. And if there's something you need to get off your chest by all means do so. Your parents told me what happened and by all rights, you should never have been put on the spot like that for coming home late from school. I presume that is because you did not WANT to return home and as usual they blew things out of proportion correct? That, or perhaps you managed to meet with Daniel's friends after all?"

Breathing heavily, Jasmine only managed to say, "That's right on both counts. I...made them tell me their side of the story and made it clear how much they hurt Danny. My brother didn't deserve that from them too, not at all..." tears began to silently spill over her cheeks again but she dabbed them with my red handkerchief and kept speaking regardless. "They're really lucky you didn't press charges since they don't exactly have the best track record because of all the ghost stuff and sneaking out of class. I've never missed a day of school in my life but because of what happened with Danny...my teachers have been getting suspicious. I really hope mom and dad do manage to tone things down because...now I know at least some of what Danny must've felt seeing them building weapons at the dinner table. Since you stole the other one they...tried to make another from memory and I lost it! The best offense is a good defense right?! Why couldn't they work on improving the ghost shield rather then make more weapons to hurt Danny?! I know they'd never turn a gun on me like that, or used to think so but I don't know anymore Vlad...and I'm scared. Scared for Danny because I don't want him to come home to that either if by some miracle this all works out! I'll miss him but the sooner you get him out of here the better, especially since they're opening that stupid portal again. I wish they'd kept it closed..."

With a sigh, I withdrew my spare handkerchief from the compartment underneath my seat and offered her a fresh cloth to dab her eyes since the other one was now soaked through. After that, we sat in silence while Jasmine either silently cried or continued venting her frustrations to me which made me realize for the first time that...if Jasmine was always the one doing the consoling, just who did she confide in? Her friends? Perhaps to some degree yes but Jasmine didn't have the sort of friends Daniel did who were aware of this other life of actual ghost hunting, though the entire town knew for a fact they were real, no, hers were normal everyday teenagers that could only understand and sympathize with her situation.

As such, I decided it would be in our best interests to get to know one another a bit during the drive over and let Jasmine confide in me which would in turn increase her trust in me and look good in Daniel's eyes. True she was a little hesitant to share everything but like Daniel we had a...colorful history though I assured her that I wasn't holding any of that against her seeing as both of us were starting fresh for Daniel's sake. Which reminded me, while I gleaned a lot more than expected about him just from riffling through his things I wanted to know more about Daniel from her perspective so I seized the opportunity to change the subject to ask about her brother instead...

She was surprised at first understandably, but once Jasmine calmed down it was actually quite soothing to both of us to talk about something other than the trials that Daniel was presently enduring. Hearing her regale all these stories about her little brother, stories of his everyday life at school and at home, stories of when he was positively beamed with pride and excitement whenever he talked about becoming an Astronaut or telling her the name of every known constellation in the sky, it filled me with a mixture of pride and to my surprise this odd sense of unease because in the end I really knew next to nothing about Daniel outside of what we were as the only two half-ghosts in existence. True I analyzed his powers and physical traits on a number of occasions but, just who was Daniel James Fenton as a person, a boy of only 14 who has seen more combat and life or death experiences than even the most seasoned war veteran...?

"Tell me Jasmine," I suddenly interrupted after she finished one of her stories, "Is Daniel...happy with who he is? I've seen him express mixed feelings about being half-ghost but that was more due to what it has cost him recently. If given the choice, would he want to go back to-"

Jasmine shook her head and cut me off with a sudden outburst of, "What? No! As far as I know Danny loves having these powers and it makes him feel special, like he's needed and can make a real difference in the lives of others. Most importantly though, it gave him a new sense of freedom he's never really had before."

"Freedom? How so?" I wondered, confused by her odd choice of words.

Looking out the window at the sky, Jasmine clarified, "Our parents decided a long time ago that one of us would take up ghost hunting, so when I made it clear that I wasn't going to do it, they put a lot of pressure on Danny once he was old enough to carry on their legacy, especially my dad. Danny has always had his own dream though. A dream he basically gave up on because of them and because of what happened when he had his accident. In the end, Danny chose to fight ghosts anyway to protect the people he loves. Yet deep down, I know that it's not just the stars he's reaching for...it's the freedom that awaits him there to finally be himself and make his own choices without anything to hold him down. Such as the burdens his friends and my parents put on his shoulders and the ones he freely chooses to carry by himself. But Danny feels like he's being punished for every wrong choice he's made or accused of being selfish so he forgets to do anything that makes HIM happy to make sure everyone else is satisfied. Who are they to call my brother selfish though? How can they say those things when every single day he was giving up everything for the sake of people who have never once stopped to thank him for being able to continue on with their lives since he made this town a safer place to live in or realized how hard doing what he does actually is? He constantly loses sleep because of the nightmares and his ghost senses going off almost every night, he barely eats more than two meals a day at best, he can't find the time to study to keep his grades up, and those are just the obvious issues. But did Sam or Tucker see any of that even though they were always with him? Did my parents? No. They only saw what they wanted to see and told him how things _'should'_ or _'shouldn't'_ be done, when it has to be, or they're always pointing out everything he's doing wrong instead of seeing what an amazing person Danny is for taking every blow to his pride and his heart." Looking back at me Jasmine once more bore her eyes into mine with all the conviction she could muster and said, "Vlad, I'm sure you have all sorts of these _'grand plans'_ for my brother but remember, it's the little things that give him the confidence to trust you and open up more about what's bothering him. Let him know you're listening and praise him when he does something right rather then wrong like everyone else. He needs to know that you're there to support him, not manipulate him-" taking my hand in both of hers, hesitating a little just before the limousine slowed to a halt and she glanced at the hotel looming before us, Jasmine gave me her parting thoughts, "-this isn't like before Vlad, if you try to force the truth out of Danny it will only hurt him more, so please, whatever you have planned, whatever you're going to do next, make sure that you take his feelings into account. You have NO idea how important it is that you help Danny find a way to get through all of this. Because if you don't, then there's no telling how much more he can take before it becomes too much and he collapses in on himself. I've seen it happen before. Right now, there are things that weigh more heavily on his heart then either of us really know, and unless you give him a reason to trust you Danny won't let you help him carry the burden..."


	29. Knight Terrors

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (05/07/2018):** Well, so much for there being more of Danny's POV, but it makes sense in a way since he's not-all-there because of all the stress and our hero can only take so much. Kinda glad Spectra can't get at him because with all the misery Danny's feeling she could stay beautiful for the next hundred years! The poor kid! Also, I'm kinda surprised that the mini Dan reveal in the chapter before last didn't get any response since I know a few of you have been dying for it to happen, which it will, but much later as part of the main climax. I don't even know how long this story is gonna be anyway given how much I have planned and how deeply I'm digging into the flaws of each character and how they'd handle all of this, especially Danny because as strong as he is, at the end of the day he's only 14 years old. And Vlad, yes he might be the _'villain'_ in the show but we've seen small glimpses of him actually caring before the horror that was season 3 that oddly enough in my opinion made him do things I even thought were out of character for him and Danny alike. Anyways I did my best to explain a new reason behind that which is Danny felt violated and hurt that Vlad tried to _'replace him'_ because he _'wasn't good enough'_ which I feel would really hurt him coming from Vlad since at least he acknowledges him unlike his own parents half the time. Don't get me wrong, I love Jack and Maddie, but like I said since I'm digging into the deeper things from my point of view from watching the show again I'm trying to write a story revealing many of the unseen things Danny might have been dealing with and felt because of them. At any rate, sorry about the rant and enjoy this next chapter because it has yet another surprising twist in store for you my lovely readers!

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Chapter 28: Knight Terrors

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Vlad's POV

Despite Jasmine's warning at the end -though I was confident enough in her observations concerning Daniel that I was likely going to heed most of her advice- I felt quite satisfied with the results of my visit to Fenton Works. After all, I successfully put Jack and Maddie in their place so they'll back off, at least for now; I unexpectedly aided Jasmine in her time of need, which would make it easier to ask her for more information about Daniel; and finally, with going along those same lines I learned far more than I expected to about my little badger...

A lot of it I learned simply from exploring his room for myself. And then talking to his elder sister, who probably knew him better than anyone alive, including his own parents, only helped me learn that much more. Now I was certain that Daniel would never actively want to give up his ghost powers even if he could because they gave him more than just incredible powers and the tools to stop others from trampling on him, it gave him the freedom to take ownership of his fate and his life again because this was a blessing in disguise, a part of him that belonged to Daniel alone. What's more, he was no longer alone in that pursuit. He had me, and now I could guide him without reserve and prove to the boy just how fortunate he was in spite of all of this heartache since unlike me he had an example of the greatness Daniel had within his reach and more.

I would give him a better life free from such heartache, save him from those heavy burdens Jasmine spoke of, show him a brighter future, and this time...rather then asking for Daniel to renounce his father all I needed to know was that he wasn't going to leave my side until he could truly rise above this hardship with my help. So far, things were moving along smoothly. However I wasn't going to celebrate this victory just yet. After all, Daniel was clearly under duress either from something real or a demon born of his broken heart and untold fears. Fears that consumed him and made it difficult to put them aside to trust me, whom was somehow part of this nightmare future Daniel had witnessed. Because knowing one's future, if ill fated, could easily drive anyone mad and I would not allow Daniel to convince himself that he had lost his freedom to choose a grander fate at my side.

After allowing myself but a moment to revel in that knowledge that I could be Daniel's savior, thereby securing a new place in his heart then that of the enemy, I recomposed myself and knocked on his door. "Daniel, may I come in? I've brought you some of your..."

I trailed off when a sense of dread washed over me as a fine mist snaked out from underneath the door and I could hear Maddie mewling weakly, pawing at the door to be let out. I hesitated only for a moment before phasing inside and GOOD LORD it was freezing in here! I doubt Daniel would have even been able to sense my ghost signature with the cold he was generating. Turning around I opened the door just long enough to let Maddie eagerly return somewhere warmer before returning my attention to Daniel...

He was staring blankly out the window and cool air was spilling over the side of the bed as though his body were made of dry ice. The effect was subtle but Daniel was generating enough cold that to the trained eye the mist was visible. Not to mention Maddie sensed something amiss and tried to make her escape but couldn't with the door closed and had to endure the sudden drop in temperature. What about Daniel himself though? How long has he been sitting like that? I needed to find out, however, alarming Daniel would only make it worse so I attempted to counteract the effects by generating heat with my electrical powers similar to the vibrating of water molecules in a microwave only just enough to raise the room's temperature to normal again.

Daniel sensed the change I'm sure since he visibly relaxed rather unwillingly, yet he continued to stare unfocused out the window, his gaze vacant and alarmingly distant. As such I strode over to his bedside and gently rested my hand on his shoulder, calling, "Is everything alright little badger? You look pale. Don't tell me you thought you could get away with not eating since breakfast now did you...?" glancing over, I noticed the tray of half-eaten snacks and several empty water bottles -though the one nearest to his person was slightly frozen- which meant he had at least eaten something since then but then...why was he acting so strange? Did something happen while I was-

"I should have known...he's...a part of me..." Daniel muttered, his voice hitching. "There's really nothing that I, or anyone else can do to stop the inevitable, is there?" a hollow laugh escaped his lips along with another puff of cold air which made us both shiver, then he shivered again out of fear and shrank away from me. Then much to my surprise Daniel continued as if to convince himself of this, "It's not Vlad that destroys everything he touches, it's me, it's always been me. I can't do anything right. Not as a Fenton, not as Phantom, this world doesn't need either of us, it only wants HIM to bring an end to it all. It was never Vlad's fault HE was made...I was the one who was broken, messed up in the head, and more twisted up inside then he'll ever be. I'll cost him everything. But not this time, not even Vlad deserves that, not again, not because of me. I won't do that to him. I won't!"

Once Daniel began to hyperventilate with that cold breath practically freezing his lungs, I was spurred into action and grabbed his other shoulder, gripping them firmly and giving him a good shake, "Daniel, look at me! You're speaking nonsense again! Whatever happened it wasn't your fault. I shouldn't have left you alone! Daniel!" Upon saying his name a second time, his entire body jolted in surprise and when his eyes finally turned towards mine they were completely dilated, not to mention they were a strange mixture of Fenton blue and Phantom green that pulsated throughout his pupils to reflect the anxiety that currently gripped his heart.

"He's...part of me..." Daniel repeated, peering into my eyes with a mixture of grim realization and fear, his movements sluggish yet frantic as he tried to shake free of me. "He's inside my head Vlad...in my skin...in my chest! B-but you, you can stop him can't you? Even if you created him before, you can stop it this time right!? You can stop him before it can happen again without killing me! We just have to kill the possibility. That's the only reason he's still here! That's right, and you-! AH! NO! Leave Vlad alone you jerk! Get out of him right now or I'll make you!" Now gripping my shoulders impossibly tight Daniel leaned forward and snarled, "I am nothing like you do you hear me! I will never accept that garbage that I'm screwed no matter what you say! No matter what lies you feed me! I'm not evil, and neither is Vlad! He's just...Vlad! So get out! Get out of Vlad RIGHT NOW!"

"DANIEL!" I snapped, forcing him to lay down on the bed while ignoring his feeble struggles to change form only to have the rings flicker into existence then fade away instantly. "For pities sake get a hold of yourself! There is no one controlling me! No matter how powerful that ghost from this blasted future is, I-!"

As if all the strength had fled from his body, I nearly fell on top of Daniel when he suddenly stopped struggling in my grip and muttered deliriously, "There's no escape. You're part of me. It's all my fault, I...I ruined everything. I'm going to ruin everything just when I started to think that maybe...Vlad really could change. That I could finally be rid of you. But if I can't change my fate, how is he supposed to? Nowhere...There's nowhere to run...because you can't outrun...outrun..."

 _It was a mistake to leave him alone, I should have foreseen this. Now I'm sure that there's more too these fits then I presumed..._ Glancing at my watch on the wrist that was still holding Daniel down in case he lashed out again, I internally scowled since I was rapidly running out of time. But I was NOT going to lose him now just to tie up loose ends! I had to do something about this, now, and without leaving his side because the moment I did he would snap and lose any and all hope he had left. Though I was rather flattered that Daniel was willing to defend me against this evil, saying that I wasn't truly the monster he once thought I was. In fact, now Daniel had this ridiculous notion that HE was the monster which I would not allow. He was probably the only good thing in my life, the one thing that mattered enough to throw some of my usual methods out the window to be considerate of him.

Now however, wasn't the time to worry about looking good. Daniel wasn't in his right mind so reasoning with him was useless. He wasn't lucid at all and kept struggling with his fight or flight instincts, which unlike before at least Daniel had enough strength to do some damage, although it was mostly to himself. I needed to call upon an ally I could trust to watch him and stay out of sight like I considered doing once before only now I had no choice. I couldn't leave Daniel now, not even with a duplicate after what happened last time so instead, I created my duplicate with a suppressed signature and sent it down to the lab while restraining Daniel who started struggling again when he sensed even the slightest change in me when I did so. Honestly I was surprised with how attuned he was to me but perhaps it was because this evil ghost stole my ghost powers in that alternate future meaning he and I shared some similarities. That would explain why Daniel was projecting his image onto me.

Either way, as if repeating my earlier actions at Fenton Works I focused on keeping Daniel calm or at least restraining him while my duplicate flew down to the lab and unsealed the portal. It then flew inside holding a particular device I had designed to summon my most trusted ally. And no you'd think that would be Skulker but I had someone else in mind. Someone who not only could keep Daniel in check if he lashed out again, but perhaps he alone could pinpoint the true source of Daniel's fears. Who better to do that then the Spirit of Halloween, the Fright Knight himself...?

* * *

The Fright Knight was never far from his steed, Nightmare, so to ensure that he would receive my summons in either case I gave him a device that would signal that I was calling for him in the form of two armor pieces; a breast plate for Nightmare, and an exact duplicate of the skull on his belt, both of which would give off a sound that only he could hear and the eyes on them would glow electric pink as opposed to red or some other color depending on the urgency of the summons. Normally I would have given him something more advanced but he was an ancient spirit that knew precious little of the modern world which was a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it made him naive enough to control, yet fearless enough to stand his ground against any foe aside from his former master Pariah Dark.

In fact the Fright Knight had been sent after me to retrieve the Ring of Rage fo the Ghost King when during the chaos I finally got him alone and struck a bargain with the Fright Knight. Unlike his former master he and I would be allies from then on which for me was rarer still since I preferred underlings under my control but his loyalty and respect were well worth making an exception. In fact I later learned during that incident that the Fright Knight actually held a newfound respect for Daniel as a warrior after he subdued the Ghost King. Enough to even put aside his honor-bound vow to one day seek retribution for the insult he suffered when Daniel foolishly stole the Soul Shredder from him for some ridiculous haunted house assignment at his school. Still, that respect would work in my favor as well because it meant I could trust the Fright Knight not to harm Daniel without reason unless I ordered him to and he would report his findings on what the source of this fear was that reduced Daniel to this pitiably broken child in my arms, who was not the true Daniel at all and I wanted him back!

I was not an impatient man but time was of the essence and I had half a mind to drag Daniel down here with the duplicate and sedate him again as he continued switching between acting irate and catatonic. I had to keep the temperature in the room from dropping as well since Daniel was still feverish and the last thing we needed was to have it flare up a third time. What a time for his core to be acting up but it was likely in response to his panicked state of mind, which reminded me that I would have to check the security tapes to find out what set Daniel off this time in my absence whether it was a real presence or another hallucination. Yet I had a feeling it had to be something real given the regularity of these episodes the moment Daniel was left alone...because yes while he's been anxious and upset about this whole ordeal I could tell he was trying to trust me and make the most of it so it made no sense for him to fall so far so quickly just when we were making progress.

My patience was rewarded at last when a high pitched _'niegh'_ reached my ears and the Fright Knight flew into view. Once he did rather then wait for him to come meet me I teleported over to him after shutting the portal behind my duplicate just in case which was actually quite a feat given how technically we were in two different dimensions now and I was still connected enough to maintain it. I had to admire the Fright Knight, he really knew how to hold himself with a mixture of noblity and terror alike when he wasn't cowering before Pariah Dark. For while he may not intimidate me, though he could pose a reasonable threat which was another reason I respected him, the Fright Knight looked as imposing as ever as he dismounted his loyal steed and saluted me as expected of a knight before speaking.

"Lord Plasmius, it has been some time since I last received your summons. I take it you have a task for me?" I smirked, straight and to the point, I think that was by far one of my favorite qualities in the Fright Knight. Regardless, my smile faded when I was reminded of the task at hand when the real me was exerting more power to prevent frost from forming on Daniel's skin when another wave of cold pulsated from the distressed hybrid.

"I do, and although it is a small task it is not any less important that you preform this task for me," crossing my arms, I explained, "As you may recall I told you once before that I have plans for the young Danny Phantom correct? Well certain circumstances have since worked in my favor and the boy is now under my protection. Which reminds me-" unfolding my arms, I let my power flare just enough to remind him who was in charge and the seriousness of the situation before revealing any more information to him that he might leak to someone who would attempt to use the opportunity to attack Daniel despite my declaration. "Do I have your word that this will remain between us and no one else will hear you breathe a word of it?"

Looking a tad insulted, the Fright Knight declared, "What do you take me for Plasmius? I am the Fright Knight! I detest such foul play and deception amongst allies unless the other has betrayed your trust first! Once a pledge has been made, I never break it nor go back on my word. And I have sworn to fight by your side whenever you call upon me while you grant me an equal rank in power and authority and as such, if I am sworn to keep silent then I shall uphold that oath as well. Do not insult my honor by making calumnious claims!"

Unphased by his display of indignation, I nodded, "Very well, so long as we are in agreement about this. It is imparitive that no ones knows that he's with me until the time is right. I meant no disrespect Fright Knight. I am merely being cautious."

Seeing the sense in that the Fright Knight relaxed again and said, "Fair enough. Now what is this task you have summoned me for? I assume it has to do with the whelp."

My eyes flared dangerously and I warned, "Don't call him that again. At least not in my presence or I will retaliate to you insulting my future son."

Although his face was merely made of solid shadows and expressionless, the Fright Knight's eyes widened and he concluded, "Ah, so you still intend on making the ghost boy your heir? I suppose since the boy IS the only other of your kind I can see the sense in that. He is a worthy adversary after all though I have not fought him since that day. To have taken down my liege lord, Pariah, must have taken considerable strength and cunning on his part, though it was you who stepped in and sealed him away in the end as we discussed. Very well, I will refrain from demeaning him from this moment hence forth."

"Good. Now, this is what-" I began when my duplicate flickered and I realized I couldn't hold it together much longer with the portal closed.

After that I was forced to keep it brief, explaining that I needed him to keep an eye on Daniel and use his unique powers to pinpoint the true source of his fears. And should Daniel attempt to escape the Fright Knight was to stop him at any cost even it it meant knocking him out with the hilt of his blade or a blow to the back of the head. I would let Daniel know the Fright Knight was there to watch him so he wouldn't assume I went behind his back and was trapping him here, clearly he needed a bodyguard to prevent whatever was mentally attacking him from finding another opening while I was preoccupied. Because this was one thing I could not postpone any longer without losing face since I needed to leave the town on a high note and give them a valid reason for my hasty departure in the middle of this fluctuation of ghost activity. Yes many would accuse me of thinking of the needs of one boy rather then the entire town but frankly I could care less and they were lucky I was offering them ANY protection when that was normally Daniel's job and they took him for granted. Therefore, after this, the truth would be that all of my attention would be focused on stabilizing Daniel's condition both mentally and physically because he was useless to me like this and liable to hurt himself again.

Once I was done explaining my plans, the Fright Knight agreed to do as I asked although he was still confused as to WHY Daniel even needed my protection. This was good news to me since it confirmed that no one on this side knew yet that his parents nearly killed him seeing as the Fenton Portal has been closed for the past week. The Fright Knight also told me that many of the ghosts that regularly traveled through there to Earth were getting violent and restless which was not so reassuring to hear despite my plans to coax them into distracting the Fenton couple. Once this matter was taken care of, upon his return I asked him to decree far and wide that a reward would be issued to anyone who managed to successfully occupy Jack and Maddie Fenton without getting captured this week and tell them my _'sources'_ said that the Fenton Portal would be reopening soon.

Of course, I decided against offering the reward under my own name over on this side so I deigned to use an alias, which in this case I decided to go with a classic that could not be traced back to me, _'The Red Baron.'_ I almost decided to go with _'The Bloody Baron'_ but that would give the wrong impression and the association with blood and plasma would have been too obvious. At any rate, we needed to return so I could reabsorb my duplicate so once everything was in place I had him follow me, warning him against making any sudden movements and to leave Nightmare just outside the room. I could only hope that this temporary solution wouldn't blow up in my face the moment Daniel saw a ghost literally made to instill fear in others. Only this time, I was going to use his power to DISCOVER his fear rather than exploit it.

* * *

By the time I reabsorbed my duplicate after guiding the Fright Knight to Daniel's room, Daniel appeared to have worn himself out and was finally coming out of it. Though it left him in a daze which was to be expected. I would have preferred to wait longer for him to come around but there was no time left. As such I slowly eased up on the grip I had on his wrists and helped him into a sitting position. And since he let me I deduced he had given up fighting me anymore which I was grateful for, however, that could change in an instant so I made sure to keep one hand to his back for support while the other rested over his chest as I radiated pulses of warmth in small waves to help relax him which seemed to be working.

"Daniel, I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave now but someone is here to watch over you so nothing will happen again. I know you two have a history, but I wouldn't be entrusting your protection to him if I thought he would harm you in any way, do you understand me?"

In response, Daniel tensed again and weakly pleaded, "No, Vlad please don't go. I'm not strong enough to stop him...he made me..."

Shaking my head I cut him off with a firm but even tone, "Hush Daniel and save the explanations for later when you feel up to it. I'm not going to let anything happen to you again, alright? The Fright Knight is well suited to the task of guarding you since he'll be able to sense your fears before they can grip you and cause a problem again. He gave me his word that no harm will befall you unless you lash out so please, for your own sake and mine, don't do anything rash. Try to get some rest little badger and I promise, once this is over I won't leave your side again."

His mind suddenly registering the name of the ghost I enlisted to watch him, Daniel blinked, as if struggling to remember something and ran a hand through his hair saying, "The Fright Knight, but wasn't he...!" Wincing, he shook his head while still trying to reorient himself.

Rolling my eyes despite my concern for Daniel, I scoffed, "Honestly, of all your enemies he's likely the least of your worries Daniel. He knows better then to go against me since it was I, not you, who sealed Pariah away," recalling Jasmine's advice from earlier I added proudly, "However you did do most of the work and thus earned his respect which among ghosts as you know is no small task. You earned that glory which is no lie. It was by far the greatest test I subjected you too which you passed with flying colors. They value power my boy, and even now your power grows stronger than I ever would have believed possible in such a short time. And with my help you WILL overcome these fears. I will see to that myself that you no longer have to fear for your life because of your parents, other ghost hunters, not even other ghosts! I just need a little more time. That is why I'm asking you to trust me Daniel...please."

It really was the magic word when Daniel's eyes widened and his pupils went back to normal the moment that solitary word passed my lips. I don't ask people for anything, I usually demand or expect it, nor do I forgive easily if at all, but because of him I was doing so now. I forgave his sister's betrayal, I refrained from insulting his father, I've humbled myself in ways I have never once done in my entire life even before coming into my wealth, and finally, now I was asking for his trust since my actions alone couldn't seem to prove to him enough that already I was going against my nature because I valued him so much...

The Fright Knight was right, selfishly, I STILL wanted Daniel to become my son and heir, that had not changed. The only thing that had were my methods and even then I was being more considerate of him than I've ever been to another human being. I loved this boy. I loved him so much that I would do anything to keep him. But in order not to lose him I had to realize that right now...Daniel was NOT in control of his fate. There was something happening behind the scenes and with or without he connect of Daniel himself or his sister, I was going to put a stop to it. Even if it meant using every underhanded method I knew to keep him in the dark about how deeply I was investigating the one enemy that Daniel fears more than anything else. An enemy he would give up his life in a literal and metaphorical sense being the _'hero'_ that he was. Well, now it was time for the villain to become the hero to the only person in this accursed world worth saving. Only Daniel kept me human, gave me a reason to care about something outside of power and ambitions, so this time...I wasn't going to let anyone or anything take Daniel away from me. I would fight for him. And this was but the first battle to be won.

The war however, was only just getting started.


	30. Fight Or Fright

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 29: Fight Or Fright

* * *

Danny's POV

Well, I'll give Vlad this much, his plan to make sure I couldn't slip under again because of whatever was happening to me worked. But it was only because every muscle in my body was coiled like a spring once the fog cleared since my every survival instinct was warning me to stay on high alert because of the ghostly presence in the area. Or to be more accurate, it was AT my freaking door! Oh and did I mention how Vlad thought it was a great idea to let me see the Fright Knight which only set me on edge again?

It was bad enough that his ghost signature was so close to me that even while suppressed I was like...hyper aware of it, but now I had a visual confirmation that I was being personally guarded by one of my ghost enemies. And sure, I'll admit that I might have only been imagining it, but I swear that despite his expressionless face it felt like the Fright Knight was secretly mocking how weak and pathetic looking I was as his lidless green eyes peered down at me. The Fright Knight examined me for a solid minute before he went to his _'post'_ outside my room when Vlad told him to go stand watch.

I hated it. I hated feeling trapped like this even if though this time at least I know that wasn't what Vlad was aiming for. And most of all I hated that Vlad was making me stay here with one of my enemies just because he couldn't send a duplicate to do this stupid announcement thing instead! Wasn't he happy I didn't want him to go? That I was relying on him so much despite my better judgment to keep my guard up, even now? I felt ashamed of myself for even admitting it, but I was seriously scared now. I couldn't be imagining ALL of these hallucinations, they were just way too vivid. Something was seriously wrong with me. Still, if nothing else, at least Vlad kept the shield on my room down after apparently deciding that the Fright Knight's presence alone would be enough of a deterrent to keep me from pulling something while he was gone, again...

As if I had a choice! Honestly I could hardly even remember half of what I did or said once I made it back to my room after my powers shorted out! Oh and then that freaky cold sensation started setting in which only made me feel worse! Most of it was a blur up until a sense of deja vu clicked in my mind when Vlad pinned me down and ordered me to snap out of it. Seriously, hadn't he already said those exact words to me before...?

Anyway, the thing that struck me most was the humility Vlad showed when he actually said _'please'_ to me. Since when was that word even in his vocab? Aside from that the pulses of ecto-energy Vlad sent through me to help warm my core -which actually helped ease some of the stabbing cold in my chest making it hard to breath- hearing him say that made me feel this warm flutter in my chest that I can only assume was relief flooding through me realizing that he wasn't as angry with me, just worried.

I can't tell you how relieved I was to hear that Vlad was still going to help me even after all the trouble I've caused for him that had nothing to do with fighting him for once. On that note though I wondered, what was Vlad going to think when he saw the security tapes of me doing...whatever I did in front of his second portal? Crap, Vlad was going to think I was trying to run off again, but that wasn't it at all this time! I don't understand what happened. It was like I was being drawn to the raw ecto-energy on the other side of the portal and whatever this...thing in my head is seemed like it was trying to see how far it could push me into doing things I obviously didn't want to do. Sure I wasn't hurting anyone, yet, but still, I felt bad for making Vlad put up with all of this since I knew now that in his own way he really was worried about me and was trying to protect me from it. Heck, I was worried about me too. And I only knew one ghost who could give me answers since it was kind of his job to make sure Dan couldn't make a comeback if that's what this was really all about, and that was Clockwork. So eventually yes I was going to have to slip away to see him but now wasn't the best time for either of us while Vlad was on high alert too when it came to my safety...

A blush rose to my cheeks when I remembered how clingy I'd been with Vlad before he pried -or rather phased- out of my grip before I could follow suit. Then with a worried smile he ruffled my hair to ease some of the tension of my most recent episode and promised to treat me to a nice dinner once this was all over. He even left my things at the foot of my bed for me to look through when I was ready; although, I had a sneaking suspicion Vlad was going to be keeping a hold of my laptop to go snooping around my personal files like everyone else I knew seemed to do like my sister, Sam, and Tucker.

Luckily I made sure not to keep ANY files on there about Clockwork or Dan and hand wrote those notes because, come on, everybody knew that information like that was way easier to track down in file form so I was hoping they wouldn't think to look for that info on a separate and very easily disposed of piece of paper. Unfortunately, the notebook with that stuff written down was hidden in the bed-frame of my bed back home, and there was NO way I was risking going back there just to get it. Besides, I had most of it memorized anyway...

After all, how could I ever forget the worst day of my life?

Noticing the elevated state of my anxiety about it with his fear-sense or whatever I guess when it bubbled to the surface, the Fright Knight completely ignored knocking on the door like Vlad usually did and phased directly into the room, asking curtly, "Child, I sensed your fear spike just now. Are you in need of-"

"Like you care!" I snapped, my eyes flashing green. "Having my sister and Spectra psychoanalyze me was bad enough, so don't you start in on me too Fright Knight! You're only here because Vlad told you to babysit me. That doesn't mean I have to tell you anything, got it? Now leave me alone!"

I expected him to get angry or grab me by the collar or something so I'd have an excuse to kick his butt, but then to my surprise he remained eerily calm and actually nodded in agreement with me. "True, your secrets are your own, however, you should feel honored that Lord Plasmius values you so highly and considers you worthy of his time when you have done nothing but rebel against him. As you say, I am merely doing what was asked of me as a sign of respect to he who granted me equality when for centuries I have lived in the Ghost King's shadow. He has practically done the same with you boy, considered you his equal."

I blinked a few times before scoffing, "Equal? Yeah right, Vlad only..."

Trailing off, I remembered what Vlad said just before he left and how...real his pride in me seemed when he told me how he felt about the whole Pariah thing when it came to what I did to stop him, _"...you did do most of the work and thus earned his respect which among ghosts as you know is no small task. You earned that glory which is no lie. It was by far the greatest test I subjected you too which you passed with flying colors. They value power my boy, and even now your power grows stronger than I ever would have believed possible in such a short time..."_

Continuing as if I hadn't said anything, the Fright Knight mused, "As the only other of his kind, I can see why Lord Plasmius harbors such high hopes for you and therefore sees fit to shelter rather then destroy you in your moment of weakness. Tell me child, does that sound like the actions of a true enemy? If I did not respect your power, as well as the wishes of my ally, I would demand satisfaction for the insult I suffered long ago by your hand when you stole the Soul Shredder from me. Yes, it's true that your actions also freed me from my prison, but it was not your place to do so! Especially when you are ignorant of my true calling! It was Lord Plasmius who freed me from under the absolute rule of Pariah Dark, which is why I am in his debt. As for you wh-I mean ghost boy, aside from my honor demanding that one day you and I duel to the death so to speak, I cannot deny that you have become a force to be reckoned with and I would be a fool to raise my blade against you unprovoked. That is why, on my honor, I swear no harm will come to you while I stand as your bodyguard. Even so, remember this well. I do NOT take orders from you! I was given my orders and will report anything unusual in you that I sense to Lord Plasmius, make no mistake about that. For I have ways of weeding out what you mortals fear most. I was merely asked to report what I sensed rather then use my Soul Shredder to simply expose it in a tangible form, that would have been much simpler yet my lord did not wish to cause you any further distress by forcefully exposing what you refused to confide in him regarding this enemy that lurks in the farthest reaches of your mind. Take comfort in that mercy, for few can face their fears in such a place and escape unscathed."

Unfortunately I couldn't really argue with him there. Besides, even if I could I wasn't exactly in the best position to fight him or make him go away by force but honestly, I was kinda surprised that the Fright Knight was being so...reasonable and upfront with me. I was so used to just fighting every ghost I met instead of talking to them, well besides a few that I've actually tried to reason with that later become my allies too that I knew had my back so I could kind of get what he was saying. Vlad wasn't my arch enemy anymore, and now there was no real reason for me to _'rebel'_ against him unless he started doing bad things to my parents or my friends. Still...what the Fright Knight didn't know was that in that alternate future I was so afraid of with Dan, my evil self, he actually served that creep and helped him destroy the world. What was so honorable about that? Or was it only this respect of power thing Vlad mentioned? Whatever the case may be, while I might be more willing to trust Vlad now, trusting the Fright Knight himself was a whole other story...

Shaking my head, I decided I was too tired to argue with him anymore and grumbled, "Fine, whatever. Are we done here? In case Vlad didn't already tell you I don't seem to freak out unless I'm alone so I doubt anything will happen with you standing there. Besides, with my powers on the fritz who knows what might happen if they go out of control again so I can't vouch for YOUR safety either. Just a fair warning."

My stomach gave an odd little lurch when instead of stepping away from the bed the Fright Knight stepped closer to me. Geez could he just back the heck off already?! That's when the _'fight'_ side of me boiled to the surface and I was about to transform when his green eyes peered directly into mine and for some reason my whole body froze, my face going pale as a cold sweat broke out over my skin.

Those same eyes narrowed when he breathed in deeply and concluded darkly, "I cannot quite place it, but there is something...familiar about this presence I sense lurking deep inside of you boy. It's faint, but there is something there that you may or may not already be aware of. That is the core of this primal fear which grips your heart like a vice yet, I can also sense that there are several fears which haunt you. The fear of betrayal, the fear of solitude, and strangely enough...fear of yourself. If I am not mistaken, while I was only there for a short time during your exchange with Pariah I wonder, could it be that some part of you does fear your own power...? You fear the greatness at your very fingertips? I cannot fathom such a thing! Least of all from you." I exhaled a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding when he literally paralyzed me with fear just now -which I had NO idea he could do so now to add that to his list of tricks- and the Fright Knight relented. "Since I am not permitted to challenge you unless you attempt to flee or do yourself harm I shall take my leave of you now and await the return of Lord Plasmius for further orders. So I suggest you make use of this time to rest and recover your strength for the battle to surely come. For battling your fears is a far more difficult task then simply fighting any other adversary. Heed my warning child, one day your fear will become your greatest weakness should you allow it to fester. And if it paralyzes you in the field of battle you stand to lose not only the rest of your humanity, but yourself in the process unless you rise above your fears since they cannot be struck down any other way. Fear is a choice. You either rule it, or are ruled BY it. Lord Plasmius is no exception to this rule. Even someone as great and powerful as he has his share of fears, ghost boy, yet he fights them head on without reserve or the slightest hesitation. That, is where true strength derives. It is also why even I cannot cut him with my blade, not unlike yourself when we first fought because back then you were unwavering in the path you had chosen to take. Even so...tis often the blade of the ones we love that cut far deeper then that of any physical weapon into the hearts of mortals. So I suggest you take great care not to betray his trust and let go of your groundless fear that he will soon betray yours."

* * *

 _Great, now I'm getting morality lessons from the Fright Knight. Oh how far Danny Phantom has fallen from grace huh?_ I glowered, childishly glaring at his retreating back before once again I had the room to myself. Even Maddie-the-cat was too scared to come anywhere near us or his spooky steed. That's when an unwanted pang of loneliness jabbed me in the chest, realizing I was completely alone again, but before the Fright Knight could turn around and baby me again I began looking for a distraction.

Looking at my things that Vlad brought from home WOULD have been a good place to start but, a part of me was scared to look since it meant that now my room was even less mine then it was when I ran for my life. Heaving a long and heavy sigh, I decided that the safest thing to do would be to watch some mindless TV or at least have it on for background noise because the silence was killing me! And I'm half-ghost! You'd think I'd welcome the peace and quiet but nope, not Danny Fenton. Because to me every moment of peace was just the calm before the storm I always had to brace for before it smacked me in the face. It's been like this ever since I was a little kid. Like I was always trying to be ready for when the entire house would shake when another experiment my parents were working on exploded. Or more accurately, these days this calm right here only came before the next ghost attack, so I had to stay on alert at all times for that too when I had other people's lives to worry about and not just something falling off a shelf and shattering on the floor.

I honestly can't remember -or even know anymore- if I've ever been totally relaxed before while I'm awake. Lately, even my recent moments of _'relaxation'_ have been either fever or drug-induced which didn't count. Needless to say it wasn't exactly easy for me to unwind in general, because the moment I did all hell broke loose. It was the same reason I couldn't entirely trust Vlad. I...wanted to believe he wasn't going to go back on his word to look out for me, but what about when he figured out who Dan really was and how much he had to do with him being created back then or even now if we screwed this up? What was I going to do when Vlad figured out that I was being haunted by my own shadow, my future evil self? What if-! No, I couldn't afford to think like this with the Fright Knight so close to me sniffing out the source of my fears like some bloodhound. I couldn't afford to expose my weaknesses to my enemies and former enemies any more then I already had.

Too bad as usual fate had other plans...

* * *

In an effort to ignore the restless pacing of Nightmare up and down the hallway who seemed less then happy being cooped up inside even with their beloved master standing or floating right beside them -and I say _'their'_ only because it could be a girl horse for all I knew- I finally got fed up with the subtle noise of their hooves clacking on floor with my ghost hearing, turned on the TV, and chose something simple to watch. As luck would have it I saw that there was a NASA documentary on that I could lose myself in. It was already a third way in, but I smiled at the realization that maybe a little peace and quiet wouldn't be so bad after all since I could watch it without interruption either by a ghost, since the Fright Knight didn't count since he was being my glorified babysitter, my parents, or Jazz.

I knew most of this information by heart but still, hearing about it all again made my heart swell with something besides dread for the first time in awhile. Seeing mankind reach for something impossible and find it, seeing the first person in history stand on the very surface of the moon, it really made me want to go flying tonight since it was going to be a full moon. I always made sure I knew what the lunar phases were out of habit, not to mention on a more depressing note it turns out that there are in fact some ghosts that are stronger during a full moon too. Who knew huh? It sounds like something out of a monster movie.

Which reminds me, I wonder if Wulf was one of those kinds of ghosts? Then again he already has his own amazing power to tear rifts between this world and the Ghost Zone. Now HE could totally get me to Clockwork and back without Vlad catching on but the trouble would be finding him over on this side since unlike Cujo he didn't come when called, after all Wulf wasn't a dog he was a werewolf. That and he only spoke Esperanto which I was still trying to learn in my spare time, which as you can probably already guess was pretty much nonexistent. Who has spare time or a life when you're fighting ghosts 24/7?

A shiver suddenly ran up my spine and I briefly glared at the door again, assuming it was the Fright Knight using ghost powers to amuse himself or something setting off my ghost sense, but then I started to flat out feel uncomfortably cold all over and tore the comforter off the bed and wrapped it tightly around me. Oh great, was this a new power acting up that had something to do with all that cold-core talk Vlad was making the other day? Or, wait...when was that again? I couldn't keep the days straight in my head anymore since I've either been delirious, drugged to sleep, or slipping in and out of a daze for days now. Shaking my head I pulled the fabric closer and rubbed my arms, trying to focus on the documentary again with little success. I was about to give up and shut it off to see if I could turn up the heat or something when a familiar news flash jingle caught my attention and I looked up again at the screen to see the news reporter lady that usually covered the latest ghost attacks caught on tape.

" _This is Tiffany Snow, action news, coming to you live from City Hall where Mayor Masters has come to make a very sudden yet important announcement to the people of Amity Park. In light of the recent fluctuation in ghost activity due to the mysterious disappearance of the local ghost fighting hero Danny Phantom, who as of today has neither been seen nor heard from in the past week, it has come to everyone's attention that something needs to be done to protect the general public from these random attacks. Perhaps this is what he means to address? Lets find out!"_

Switching camera's to the ones closer to Vlad at the podium, I found myself entranced by how somber he was. It might have been an act for all I knew but I've never seen Vlad look so forlorn and serious rather then cocky and overbearing. Still, it was what he said that made not only a shiver run up my spine, but my blood run cold...

" _Citizens of Amity Park, I apologize for making this announcement on such short notice but I can assure you that it is of the utmost importance. As your Mayor I swore an oath to protect not only this town, but also your children from the dangers they face from ghosts. As many of you know I was inspired by none other then Danny Fenton, son of my college friend Jack Fenton and his lovely wife Maddie, to better serve the people as a politician rather then just a humble businessman. However, over a week ago I feel it is only right to inform his loved ones who may be watching this that are not directly involved with his family as I am that he was abducted from his home by a ghost that the Fenton's unfortunately provoked who has taken him hostage. I am doing everything within my power to save him but this belays a problem on a much larger scale that endangers all of the youth of this town, their parents, and the rest of its citizens. True, being the son of ghost hunters, he is at more risk than the average student and this is not the first time he has been faced with danger -and it certainly won't be the last- but at the same time Danny Fenton was usually the safest as well since their home is equipped with it's own Ghost Shield that was used to protect you all during the Ghost King incident several months ago. That is why unless something is done to stop these ghost attacks in the future Danny Fenton's abduction, as well as the attack on the couple recently by a ghostly plant in the park, I fear that there will be more incidents to come where innocent people are placed in mortal danger,"_ taking a deep breath, Vlad continued in all seriousness, _"Danny Fenton is like a son to me, and in my desperation to see to it that he is returned home safely, I have been neglecting my duties to you all as Mayor. As such, I no longer feel that I am qualified to govern this town and my time would be best suited in running my businesses to develop ways to protect you all from these violent ghost attacks. That is why I regret to inform you that I will be retiring from office to pursue an alternative course of action to not only continue my search for the son of my close friend, but to best serve you in a more tangible way. For it has come to my attention that the only two places in this town equipped with Ghost Shields are Fenton Works, and the local business that I now personally own, Axion Labs. But how often has this town been laid siege to by ghosts in the past year alone, forcing you to turn to the Fenton's for protection? How often have you been forced to abandon your homes and businesses to do so? Far too many from what my sources tell me dating from when the existence of ghosts was confirmed and these incidents unfortunately became much more commonplace. That is why in an effort to make up for the unrest my absence will doubtlessly bring since I have selfishly chosen to prioritize organizing the search for Jack and Maddie's son, I am pleased to inform you that I will be personally overseeing the production of new and improved Ghost Shields that in time will be provided to the general public to prevent any further tragedies like this in the future. And seeing as Casper High seems to be a hot spot for these ghost attacks, I will be donating the spare shield from Axion Labs that I know for a fact is already fully operational to protect your children from harm, which I hope will put your minds at ease until more can be developed and distributed to the rest of you. Perhaps in time we can even create one with a wider range that encompasses the entire town. Although I deeply regret leaving you as Mayor, I solemnly swear to you that I will not rest until young Danny is safe once again and he and this town can finally free themselves from the constant fear of ghost attacks! And on that note, it would seem that I was wrong to presume that the ghost boy Danny Phantom's presence was a lure for ghosts rather then a deterrent seeing as up until now no one has been seriously injured by a ghost until he too mysteriously disappeared. As such I can only hope that he will accept the humble apology from your now-former Mayor and see fit to give us another chance to show our appreciation for all that he has done for this down both in front and behind the scenes. In his stead however I will do what I can to protect the people of this town, but from now on, I must do it on my own terms which means-"_

The rest of Vlad's speech was cut off mid-word when I pressed the off button so fast and so hard that it got pushed in and broke. I couldn't watch this anymore! My heart was racing as the reality of what he told everyone set in. This couldn't be happening! It couldn't! What he was saying made sense but...it was too similar to that alternate future. Losing my parents, my friends, my entire way of life as Fenton and Phantom, the creation of ghost shields that everyone could use, it was all too similar to what happened before when Dan was made.

They say _'history is doomed to repeat itself'_ and repeat it had, if only part of it. Even though he wasn't my enemy anymore, if history was doomed to repeat itself Vlad was either going to save me...or I would lose myself again and become a monster after all. Like that future, I was suffering from the same unexpected loss of my friends and family despite them still being alive, the same despair, only now it was worse since I knew what terrible future awaits me, and now I'm living with the same person I turned to for help when my life fell apart in that alternate timeline too, Vlad Masters. It was all too perfect. And that's why it was so easy to feel like even now, even after promising myself I'd never become Dan, I was already on that same path as before and there was nowhere for me to run to this time to avoid it since the one place I had left to go was with Vlad to his Castle where everything would change and my fate would be sealed...again. Which bode the question, should I do what Vlad asked me and trust him, in the hopes that he can stop this from happening? Or should I go back to my original plan and run as fast and as far as I could from everyone to protect him from making the same mistake he made trying to save me from my pain and lost his ghost-half in the process? After all, I was absolutely sure that Dan was bound to go after him next somehow because he wanted Vlad's half of our combined powers too just like before. And I wasn't going to let that happen, one way or another...


	31. Aftermath

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (05/17/2018):** Just a quick note, there isn't much info on Nightmare so for story purposes since it doesn't say one way or another whether it's a boy or a girl I'm making Nightmare a girl because you know, it makes sense that it'd be a _'mare'_ right? After all the Fright Knight clearly has a strong bond with this ghostly horse and trusts it with his afterlife. We know he can fly after seeing him do so several times, but he clearly enjoys riding his horse way more. Anyways that's about it so enjoy the next chapter! Oh, and thanks for the last review, I was getting afraid I might stop getting any! Now that'd be MY worst nightmare since I work very hard on each and every chapter to come up with ideas that make sense and fix as many errors as possible to make your reading experience as smooth as possible. I have my best friend and acting beta-reader to thank for that!

* * *

Chapter 30: Aftermath

* * *

Vlad's POV

I knew this was coming but needless to say the onslaught of tedious and pointless questions from the reporters was as time consuming as ever despite the ease of which I answered each and every one of them. Whilst ignoring others trying to trick more information out of me about this situation with the Fenton's youngest son of course. I was all too familiar with this game and knew how to play it better than anyone. With twenty years of practice under my belt I could easily trick someone into selling me their house to me without overshadowing them because these fools were THAT simpleminded.

Even so, any questions related to Daniel and his ghostly counterpart were the only ones where I let the mask slip slightly to reveal some genuine worry on my face because it was true that I wanted to be done with this and go see Daniel as soon as possible. I was deeply concerned about him after his most recent psychotic breakdown since there was a definite pattern to them now I should never have ignored or taken lightly. How could I have been so careless? Daniel suffered a near-death experience at the hands of his own parents and on top of that this hidden trauma from fighting and nearly losing to a ghost from the future became too much for the boy to mentally handle in his current state.

It was my own fault this happened in the first place, but now with this last errand complete I could devote the rest of my attention to aiding his recovery both physically and mentally. There was also the instability of his ghost core to worry about too which I was hoping could be counteracted with another blood transfusion with an additional dose of ecto-restorative. Right now his ecto-energy was still abnormally low, despite the force behind the last few outbursts, and it was not regenerating fast enough on its own. As a result it was making it harder to prevent his ghost powers from bleeding through and effecting his human form, much like it had when he first obtained them I'm quite sure.

We were lucky I deduced that Daniel had a rare cold-core which very few ghosts have and I can only think of two off the top of my head; Frostbite and that pain in the neck Klemper who kept asking anyone and everyone to befriend him. The scientist in me was still curious as to how Daniel developed such a diverse array of powers in such a short time, powers that as I told him earlier were still growing even now. Though, I do recall something Daniel told me when I finally managed to catch him in a lucid enough state to give me some answers, reluctant as they were, and it wasn't until just now that they gained new meaning. _"...Amity Park was one of the only places left in the world that was left untouched because it had this mega-ghost shield covering the entire town that lasted at least ten years, but, even that didn't hold him off forever. Eventually he broke through it using the same power I used to defeat him, my Ghostly Wail. To put it simply Vlad, this guy was a nightmare, and one that I barely managed to defeat. In fact, I almost didn't..."_

I paused mid-step whilst my bodyguards escorted me to the limousine once the interviews were over and kept those who persisted in bothering me at bay when something settled into place about this mysterious ' _him'_ I've been trying to investigate and how inadvertently I had just repeated part of the same _'future'_ that Daniel was so afraid of. But, I reasoned, wasn't it a good thing I was offering his town protection and humbled myself to the point of recognizing his ghost persona as a hero in my human form? Either way I continued forward with renewed purpose since there was no telling how Daniel was going to react to this revelation or already had for all I knew. I could only hope that my trust in the Fright Knight was well placed and that nothing had gone wrong again in my absence. All I had to do was make it to the limousine and then signal the driver to go then I could phase out of it invisibly to return home with renewed haste.

* * *

If only because I did not want to look too concerned or troubled before the Fright Knight I adopted an air of indifference as I phased down through the roof with a suppressed signature so as not to alarm Daniel in the next room, and seeing as the Fright Knight was idly stroking the muzzle of his steed to placate the beast's restlessness it would seem that all was well. If anything had happened the Fright Knight would have used one of the devices I used to signal him to alert me to any serious changes in Daniel's behavior by charging it with a sample of his ecto-energy. And I knew the Fright Knight well enough that he would not have been acting so complacent while on duty unless nothing unorthodox had happened, besides which I knew he wouldn't dare _'ignore'_ my orders to keep watch over Daniel and had likely gone into the room several times to check on him.

I kept my signature suppressed but Nightmare still sensed me and snorted in response, causing the Fright Knight to look up. Moments later he bowed respectfully and said, "Lord Plasmius, you have returned. Have you succeeded in the task with which you set forth to accomplish?"

I nodded, resting my hands behind my back while in ghost form since I felt more dignified as such in the Fright Knight's presence for some odd reason, like maybe his regalness was rubbing off on me. "I have. With this out of the way I can monitor Daniel's condition personally without any further interruptions. Speaking of which, have you anything to report?"

Saluting again, the Fright Knight replied grimly, "As you suspected my lord there is indeed a deeper root to the boy's fear that I cannot quite place as it is too faint. Yet it is somehow familiar to me so I shall investigate it further upon my return to the Ghost Zone to make your proclamation known to all. It has been some time since I used that power on a mortal to paralyze them with fear so I regret to say that I was not able to peer into his subconscious for long. Eyes are portals to the soul you see whether you are ghost or human. That and I did not want to cause the child further distress and make it more difficult for you to coax the information out of him. There is a time and a place to face your fear, and for him, it is not now whilst too many of his base fears are stacked against him as well. I revealed these fears to him in the hope that he would come to his own conclusions about them...as well as advise him on the matter concerning his fear of you my lord."

"Me? Don't be absurd. Daniel can't possibly be afraid of me," I glared, clearly unhappy with this accusation which signaled the Fright Knight to better explain himself before I got angry at this accusation much like he had earlier to mine.

"Forgive my poor choice in words Lord Plasmius, allow me to explain," the Fright Knight amended calmly, crossing his arms and nodding behind him in Daniel's direction, "Fear is, at times, either irrational or bred from a terrible experience that leaves it's mark on the human heart, a _'haunting feeling'_ if you will that I can sense in others. Yet there are common fears that all beings share to some extent because there is no such thing as a truly fearless being, not even I, for how can I sense the diversity of fear if I had not once known it myself long ago and fought to overcome it? Thus becoming the very instrument of mortal fear personified? To my great shame, there is one fear that I the Fright Knight failed to completely overcome alone was rising above my enslavement by Pariah Dark. Until you stepped in an aided me in that pursuit I doubt I would have ever freed myself from it. For that I shall be eternally grateful. That is why at times, to overcome a fear greater than ourselves, all that is needed is a single ally. You can be that ally for the boy, Lord Plasmius. And in time, your wisdom and guidance will surely help him achieve a greatness even he never thought possible. As to what Danny Phantom fears in regards to you I must say even I'm surprised that his fear comes from a noble place. For he fears harming you in some way whilst also fearing that he will fail your expectations. That is to say, the majority of his fear is FOR you, not necessarily of you, unless you count the part where the ghost boy is concerned about part of you being stolen by this mysterious entity he so fears above all others. A being that is feeding off his fear much like I would but from the inside, as though he's already deeply connected to the boy. I would suggest that the best method of countering the control this being has over his subconscious would be to help him overcome his fears and therefore give them nothing to hold against him because right now the ghost boy lacks the confidence in himself to sever the connection otherwise. Even so I can now confirm that there is something controlling the boy from the shadows, meaning I would proceed with caution because whatever or whoever this is they are reaching out to him from deep within the Ghost Zone. No one I know of here in the human world could possibly possess enough power to effect anyone, let alone a hybrid like yourself, so deeply from such a vast distance."

"I see," I began thoughtfully, rubbing my chin. Then with a smirk I told him, "You've done well Fright Knight. I'm quite pleased with what you managed to uncover and confirmed for me that Daniel's condition isn't solely because of the traumatic events that brought him to me after all. In fact, you discovered far more than I expected you to on such short notice. Yes, I can work with this..."

Bowing again the Fright Knight replied, "I am honored that my powers have served you well Lord Plasmius. If that is the case then my work here is done I believe, unless you would rather I keep guard a while longer? I should warn you though that Nightmare cannot stand staying confined in one place for too long any longer than I can as I'm sure you can understand why from both of us being trapped in pumpkins for centuries. Which reminds me, you should know that the ghost boy also fears _'confinement'_ or _'lack of freedom'_ so if he is well enough tonight I would suggest allowing him some fresh air. He is a free spirited youth after all."

Raising a brow at this unexpected bout of humor from the otherwise serious knight I lowered my hand, giving him a curt nod in response, "Thank you, I will be sure to keep that in mind. With that, I do believe our business is concluded so you are free to go Fright Knight. I'll contact you soon once I've come up with some sort of reward for the favor you've just done for me. A new bridle for Nightmare perhaps? As much sentimental value as your current riding equipment has for you I'm sure it would be a nice change to try something new and more comfortable for your lovely mare. I know you are quite fond of Nightmare and would much prefer to attend to her needs rather then your own. Am I wrong?"

If he could blush, I'm sure he would be doing so now because the bashful tone of his voice amused me as the Fright Knight stuttered, "B-but of course! What sort of knight would I be without my faithful steed? We've been together since before I can remember and I take great pride in showing Nightmare how much she means to me. I imagine it is the same with your skittish feline companion, though obviously she is merely a pet and not someone you take into battle. At any rate, yes, I suppose it would serve us well to try some more...modern methods of care for my noble steed. I leave the decision to you as to what she might like, after all you do have a discerning eye for such things Lord Plasmius. I trust that whatever you come up with will be well suited for Nightmare. As for the rest, I wish you luck with the ghost boy because you are going to need it..." his eyes narrowed and to my surprise he warned me once again, "This presence, faint as it is is by far the darkest I've felt in eons, even Pariah's darkness pales in comparison. So if it seeks to corrupt the ghost boy then only you can provide him with the protection he needs to surmount the seemingly insurmountable. But make haste, for I sense it's power is slowly growing which means that unless his strength returns, I doubt Danny Phantom will have what it takes to resist it as he is now. That is all I have to say..."

* * *

Danny's POV

At this point, the only reason I didn't have the time or energy to have another panic attack was because I was too focused on how cold and miserable I was. The last few times, this cold feeling came in waves before eventually going away, but this time it decided to stick around. That's why it took every ounce of energy I had left in me to contain the shivering since I didn't want the Fright Knight telling on me how awful I felt. I'd rather just suck it up and ask Vlad for help once he got back.

After awhile I broke down to check the bag Vlad brought with some of my stuff for those spare cloths, and once I found what I was looking for I changed into my winter coat then wrapped myself up in the blanket again while fruitlessly trying to finish the NASA documentary. I needed the distraction to keep my mind off that news report and everything Vlad told the town. I should be happy Vlad was indirectly helping everyone with those ghost shields, but at the same time...did that mean they wouldn't need Danny Phantom anymore? Did it mean that I was going to go back to being a nobody again...?

This...this is what I wanted, wasn't it? To not have to worry about fighting ghosts every waking hour and have a normal life again? Then again, how much of a life could I have now that Danny Fenton and Danny Phantom were both MIA? Now the whole town knew it, there was no hiding it anymore. I was alone...and unneeded. Or so I kept fighting not to tell myself because I still had Jazz who would always be on my side, there was also Sam and Tucker because eventually they'd come around, and then there was Vlad. Oh boy, now THAT was something to think about.

Strange how I could feel both comforted and anxious about Vlad being so obviously happy that I was with him now and he was clearly going to great lengths to help me. Praising my ghost half's heroics came a shock too even if it was only for appearances since he's always been so...anti-me for so long when it came to my hero stuff. Because of all this new drama though I started to wonder if part of that disapproval came from the fact that he didn't want me to get seriously hurt? Then again, Vlad was often the one doing the hurting. Even if he held back, the fact of the matter is I've come home covered in bruises too because of him, which to anyone else would look like child abuse, not a _'lesson'_ in proper use of my powers.

I suppose I shouldn't complain about that now since he's been...disturbingly gentle with me as if I was made of glass and would shatter at the slightest touch. And sure, right now my heart and mind were in shambles but I wasn't completely broken, not yet anyway. Though I guess I've gotten pretty dang close several times since my dad shot me to forgetting my promise and who I was to escape this horrible pain. That's why if it was a choice between swallowing my pride to accept help and comfort from Vlad and giving up on myself and everyone I cared about, well, he was the lesser of two evils in a very literal sense. Dan was more me then Vlad since from what I understood, Vlad's ghost half corrupted my already broken self and then my ghost half merged and dominated it since I was younger and stronger then he was, plus Vlad was in too much shock to be his usual cunning self which cost him dearly...

I shuttered at the thought when an expectant knock came to the door signaling that Vlad was back. I sighed in relief but it came out as my ghost sense, and I waved my hand to disperse the mist before Vlad saw just as he opened the door with a noticeable frown on his face when he saw me all bundled up. Whoops, forgot about that part. Guess there was no point in hiding my ghost sense if he could already tell how cold I was. I must've been radiating cold air or something for it to effect him too which I sort of half-remember doing near the end when he was trying to-

"Daniel," Vlad began with a mixture of seriousness and concern to grab my attention as he strode towards me and phased the blanket right off of me. "You know, you didn't have to suffer from the cold your core is generating just because you were being watched by the Fright Knight my boy. It's not a sign of weakness to take care of yourself. After all, you were more then welcome to turn up the heat since I didn't strictly forbid you from leaving the room. I simply wanted you to rest if you could manage it."

"H-Hey!" I scowled, shivering but making no move to get the comforter back. "Give it back! Can't you tell I'm still f-freezing my butt off here?" _Geez, Vlad finally comes back and the first thing he does is act like this? Stupid fruitloop!_ Remembering what happened before Vlad left though since I didn't want him drawing the wrong conclusions from the security tapes, I looked apologetic and confessed before he could work that silver-tongue on me, "Look, before you ask how I'm doing I just wanted to say...I'm s-sorry about freaking out again earlier. I really thought I w-would b-be ok on my own, but t-then I chose a very s-stupid movie about g-ghosts since I usually just make f-fun of them and my ghost sense went off. I k-knew it wasn't you so I w-went to check out the house, you know, for intruders-" I unintentionally flinched when Vlad sat down beside me, draping the comforter back over my shoulders before nodding for me to continue with a carefully blank expression. My heart started racing and I couldn't look him in the eye so I blurted out, "I wasn't running away I swear so before you go watching the tapes or whatever and getting any funny ideas I'm going to give it to you straight from the horses mouth! When I couldn't find the ghost I checked both your portals, which by the way Vlad, with that second one are you always so cliché that you hide important stuff in super obvious places like some comic-book-villain? As in like behind paintings of yourself as historical figures? Geez, ego much? Anyways, this sort of thing has actually happened to me before when I'm really hurt but I -or my ghost half probably which makes more sense- felt sorta...drawn to the portal because of the raw ectoenergy on the other side, heck I even starting hearing voices too which was way creepy, and then I-I uh...uh...Achoo!"

My face flushed with embarrassment when I sneezed and unconsciously I released a small wave of cold from my mouth similar to my ghostly wail that coated the area directly in front of me with frost. I blinked in surprise while Vlad only raised a skeptical brow and brushed my hair back to feel my forehead with his own, repressing a shiver as he pulled away musing mostly to himself, "Hmm, good, your fever seems to have gone down. But we're going to have to do something about these chills. Now Daniel, look at me," somewhat reluctantly I did so only to unsurely look away again. With an exasperated sigh, Vlad continued seriously, "I'm not angry with you over what happened little badger. I'm very concerned. Your powers are still acting up in ways I've been unable to foresee in time which is my own fault, as for that feeling you just described, it is perfectly natural for ghost-hybrids like us to feel the compulsion to recharge our energy if it's too low, yet it belays a deeper problem because it means I was correct in assuming your ecto-energy hasn't fully recovered as quickly as it should have. With any luck another blood transfusion will fix it. As for the rest, I would imagine you've had enough excitement for the evening yes?"

"If...by excitement you mean I had a mental breakdown, was psychoanalyzed by the Fright Knight, and nearly had a heart attack when you told everyone the not-so-great news that I'm missing person as Danny Fenton and Phantom then yeah, I had WAY too much excitement that's for sure," I replied sarcastically while feeling secretly relieved that I didn't have to explain the last part of what happened due to my unexpected sneeze since it might get Vlad a little too curious about what I tried to do with my powers, which I can only assume was create a portal like Dan can to the Ghost Zone. Pulling the comforter closer, I finally looked back up at Vlad and added, "Hey Vlad...?"

"Yes?" He smiled knowingly.

Smiling a little before my face fell again I asked timidly, "Did you really mean it when you said I've done some good for this town as Phantom and hope that they'll...want him back...?"

His expression faltered a little but then Vlad placed a hand on my shoulder and replied somberly, "It's a little more complicated then that, Daniel. Most of what I said today was said strategically to help us both leave this town in good graces which if nothing else will help put your mind at ease rather than mine. Hopefully I managed to indirectly show you MY appreciation at least. Although, to be quite honest I don't see how you can stand protecting these ingrates since many of them if not most take everything you've done and sacrificed for them for granted on a daily basis. Your friends and family included, sad to say. At least aside from Jasmine who has always supported you in one form or another. Who knows, maybe this will remind them of what they willingly chose to abandon, meanwhile I'm doing what I can to pick up the pieces." Giving my shoulder a light squeeze Vlad added, "Little badger, it destroys me to see you like I did before I left, so full of fear and doubt, because that's not you. I can replace anything you break, like my home, but you are something I cannot replace. That is why I am willing to go above and beyond for your sake because you are more than deserving of it. My methods may not be the easiest to understand but from the start I've always had your best interests at heart."

I was about to make a comeback when another wave of cold washed over me and without thinking I leaned closer to his chest, my whole body shaking. Still, even though my body felt cold, I felt a warm flutter in my heart hearing those words. Vlad...believed in me. He has faith that I can get past this. And I hoped he was right. There was no way things could stay this bad forever right?

So I guess the Fright Knight had a point, Vlad wasn't my enemy anymore, which meant it was my turn to trust him with a little bit at a time like he was putting his trust in me. I could do that much at least. But hey, when is it ever that easy? If only we knew that from here, things were about to get much harder, not easier.


	32. Breaking The Ice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 31: Breaking The Ice

* * *

Vlad's POV

Smiling a little before his face fell again Daniel asked me rather timidly, "Did you really mean it when you said I've done some good for this town as Phantom and hope that they'll...want him back...?"

The uncertainty in his voice troubled me greatly because I was reminded of Jasmine's observations concerning her younger brother and his longing for purpose in his life, for someone to see the good he strove to bring into the lives of others around him, those whom he fought so fervently to protect, but most of all, for someone to need him and give his choice to fight ghosts some sort of meaning. Well, it seems to have eluded him thus far, but I've told the boy on multiple occasions that _I_ need him as much if not more then this blasted town did. We were so alike yet so different at the same time, but the thing I've always admired most about Daniel is his strength of character to remain true to himself and his beliefs -as black and white as they once were- no matter how much I set out to tempt him over to my side and convince him into seeing things my way. In the end it turns out that all I really wanted deep down from the moment I discovered that Daniel was a hybrid like myself was for him to justify my desire to have him by my side as my son by willingly choosing to do so.

I doubt Daniel realizes the significance of my behavior towards him since I wasn't used to being so honest with anyone, even with the few flaws I knowingly possessed. Yet, to Daniel it meant the world to him not to have my ideals shoved down his throat like his parents have done his entire life and to be given an honest and straightforward answer as to where I stood in all of this. I allowed him to see a side of me I usually kept hidden mostly because I'd been betrayed too many times after exposing even a moment of weakness or compassion. With all the wealth and power I now had at my disposal those chances had only increased, so I made sure to keep my circle of trusted business partners and ghostly allies alike small and exclusive to reduce those chances of it happening again whilst making sure if that betrayal ever DID come from any one of them I would make certain that they would sorely regret it.

Either way, Daniel was an exception to many of my self-appointed rules and even now I wasn't sure if the boy truly grasped the deep meaning behind that of someone such as myself having that level of trust in him, a mere boy. As I showed various degrees of trust in him, slowly but surely Daniel was responding in kind. However, Daniel needed to understand that regardless of his situation I wasn't going to change who I was entirely, even for him, and he needed to accept and respect that which he seemed to have at least somewhat. For as much as I wanted him to grow and learn from me, I wasn't about to turn him into a _'villain'_ any more then he was going to change me into some kind of _'hero.'_ We were two separate individuals, as such I would grant him the freedom to finally chose his own path towards the future he desired once Daniel was stable again. For as much as I hated to loosen the protective hold I had over him, Daniel was meant to be as the Fright Knight so eloquently put it, a _'free spirit.'_

Not wanting to give Daniel the wrong impression about what I told the citizens of Amity Park since it was no secret that I would rather he NEVER came back to this toxic environment, my expression faltered slightly then I placed a deft hand on his shoulder and then replied somberly, "It's a little more complicated then that, Daniel. Most of what I said today was said strategically to help us both leave this town in good graces which if nothing else will help put your mind at ease rather than mine. Hopefully I managed to indirectly show you MY appreciation at least. Although, to be quite honest I don't see how you can stand protecting these ingrates since many of them if not most take everything you've done and sacrificed for them for granted on a daily basis. Your friends and family included, sad to say. At least aside from Jasmine who has always supported you in one form or another. Who knows, maybe this will remind them of what they willingly chose to abandon, meanwhile I'm doing what I can to pick up the pieces." Giving his shoulder a light squeeze I added, "Little badger, it destroys me to see you like I did before I left, so full of fear and doubt, because that's not you. I can replace anything you break, like my home, but you are something I cannot replace. That is why I am willing to go above and beyond for your sake because you are more than deserving of it. My methods may not be the easiest to understand but from the start I've always had your best interests at heart."

Daniel looked like he was about to respond to that when another shiver racked his entire body and without consciously thinking about it he instinctively leaned closer to me in search of some much needed warmth. I was taken aback though when I happened to glance down and noticed that, despite his discomfort from the cold biting his skin, a content smile had crept onto his face. That expression...I could only describe it as one of a long overdue sense of relief flooding through his system once Daniel knew that I was on his side and that I believed in him. Just how long has it been since anyone truly expressed confidence in him, praised him, rather then point out his every flaw and shortcoming, myself included...?

No wonder Daniel took it so hard when his two little sidekicks turned their backs on him; it took it that way because those two and his sister were the ONLY people in his life who understood Daniel to some extent and actively encouraged him during this past year. That is, until I changed how I was treating Daniel too. So rather then riling him up during our battles and demeaning him, I was actively encouraging and praising Daniel for his efforts just as his sister advised that I do and it was clearly working wonders on the teen who was slowly opening up to me. As opposed to before when Daniel was reluctant and very hesitant to trust and rely on me. And I certainly wanted him to rely on me more from now on.

A wave of protectiveness swept over me as I gently reached my arms out to encompass his trembling form; and since it helped to alleviate his suffering last time I sent out a few pulses of heated energy through my body towards him in the hopes that it would help Daniel get these chills under control. Speaking of which, while I didn't let it show nearly as much as Daniel I was just as surprised as he was when that last sneeze came out as a wave of frost. Later on, if it wasn't just another abnormality caused by his current condition, it would prove to be a fascinating experiment for both of us to see if Daniel really could apply this new power to his existing Ghostly Wail to quite literally send out a cold front billowing towards his enemies...

Speaking of enemies, my expression darkened when I recalled how twice now an unwelcome ghost has dared to trespass on my property and target Daniel while I was preoccupied. Granted we both sensed the first one which did not sound humanoid at all given the screeching sound it made and if I didn't know any better I'd say that it was one of those three blasted vultures who clearly forgot what the raised shield usually meant; which was that they would have to either track me down to get it lowered, or wait until I lowered it myself. The second ghost or whatever this entity was however did seem to have a connection to Daniel if what the Fright Knight told me was to be believed. I had no reason to doubt his observations and given what it has done so far, it's power was faint enough not to register on any of my ghost alarm systems yet it was somehow strong enough to effect Daniel by overshadowing him to some extent or doing something else to torment my little badger.

So while Daniel insisted he wasn't trying to flee from me and take refuge within the Ghost Zone, I would be checking the security tapes regardless, just to be sure he hadn't been controlled to the point of attempting to go to where this being was pulling the strings. Aside from that my primary objective was making sure that Daniel felt safe and comfortable again, enough to hopefully get a few things about what was going on clarified. Such as if any of this actually had to do with this _'him.'_ Even so I had to tread carefully since it was an extremely delicate subject to the boy, but I had my ways and I was only up against an emotionally imbalanced teenager so if need be I had other resources besides the Fright Knight who could coax that information out of-

"...Um, Vlad? I think I'm ok so you can let go now. The shaking stopped," Daniel murmured with a hint of bashfulness playing in his voice as he tugged on the front of my suit.

Giving him one last squeeze, I reluctantly let go of him then heaved a disappointed sigh, "Ah, yes of course..."

"Wow, I thought about this before but, you're pretty clingy aren't you Vlad?" Daniel smiled impishly, "No wonder you dropped your guard when I asked for a big hug from my new _'dad'_ in the Rockies. Who knew you were such a softy when nobody's looking?"

Rolling my eyes at this snide remark, I almost retorted that if I had my way when this was all over I WOULD be his new father but I thought better of it since the subject of family was also treading on thin ice as it were. So instead I stood up, brushing some imaginary dust from my suit and smiled gently in return. "What can I say? I'm just a lonely old billionaire with a cat that craves affection, remember? Besides, as I recall you were freezing your butt off mere moments so I simply offered you some warmth from my embrace which you just as easily accepted. I would say makes us both guilty. Now then!" Clapping my hands together, a look of evil glee sparkled in my eyes as I informed him, "As you have no doubt realized by now, with this last little chore out of the way I can move forward with our plans to leave this...town behind. But first, lets get you something to eat. It has been a long day for both of us and I'm sure you're famished!" Slipping back into a business-like posture though I added severely, "However, we WILL be discussing what happened now that I have the time to properly address it. I am fully aware that you brought it to my attention long before today but up until now I was not taking that part of your plight seriously Daniel, for that I do sincerely apologize. While I understand you may not be ready to divulge everything to me concerning this matter that you haven't already, I can assure you I've already learned quite a lot from your sister about the culprit behind these nightmares and most of your panic attacks. So I am taking this VERY seriously now. One way or another I am getting to the bottom of this before you try to hurt yourself again. I may even go as far as pressuring your friends into telling me this crucial detail should you refuse to do so. That's why it would make things much simpler for both of us if you would kindly tell me his name if nothing else and we'll leave it at that for tonight. We still need to make sure we've prepared you for another blood transfusion and then there's that dinner I promised you. Now, Daniel, tell me the name of this being so that I may dispose of him properly for you so that is one less thing to get in the way of your recovery."

His face paled rapidly that only further proved that Daniel was dreading having to tell me anything more concerning this being, but this information was too important to wait for any longer. Even though he wasn't ready, this was one matter we couldn't afford to brush aside at this point. After everything that's happened thus far because of my ignorance of this separate problem he was facing, I had inadvertently exposed Daniel to their cruel mind games when I should have been more careful. With a name to attach to Jasmine's description with any luck I could finally begin searching for this ghost or whatever he was in earnest and dispose of them before they could do any permanent damage while Daniel's mental state was already quite fragile. Surely doing this would prove to Daniel once and for all that I was determined to be HIS protector from now on. He's what matters most to me, since no one else did anymore after I finally realized that Maddie wasn't the woman of my dreams after all.

"Vlad I just...can't." Daniel began, shrinking back from me as he admitted part of what was really holding him back from telling me, "I don't want you to think that I'm...a monster that needs to be put down too like mom and dad did. And they don't even know anything about him! They forgot seeing him when time was wound back and I got a second chance, a chance to avoid that future. But now, things are lining up again just like before and all I can do now is hope that there's still some way we can avoid it without bringing up those painful memories anymore. Can't we just leave it at that? I'm not re-"

"No," I told him flatly, leaving no room for argument with a furrowed brow. "Daniel, I know you're afraid that I'll reject you since this ghost has some fundamental connection to you and this alternate timeline in which you were somehow forced to destroy the world. The very idea that I would give up on you is an absolutely ridiculous notion in the first place since NOTHING you say or do could possibly change how I feel about you; I still want you by my side and now more then ever believe I am better suited to the task of taking care of you. Besides, I'm still the _'villain'_ remember? You could probably murder a man by mistake and I would gladly cover it up for you without batting an eye. However, on that same note, unlike some people I actually do know you well enough to believe that you would never do such a thing even when driven to such extremes to defend yourself or a loved one. I've already seen with my own eyes that you are willing to sacrifice yourself to ensure the safety of others and to make sure that this evil being never comes to exist in this timeline. And that in turn supports my existing theory that you will ever remain a too courteous, valiant, obstinate, and foolhardy young man until your dying breath. That is, if we even CAN die properly like normal humans; I'm still researching that eventuality myself since I've lived as a half-ghost much longer than you have, Daniel. Besides, you chose never to become _'like him'_ didn't you? And if there's one thing I admire about you my boy it's your unwavering resolve once you've made up your mind so don't start doubting yourself now. We're both similar in that regard which is why I refuse to give up on you so easily. I already did that once, foolishly thinking that I could fill the void in my life by fabricating this unique relationship since I thought there was no other way to have you where you were meant to be, by my side and under my tutelage to draw out your true potential as the only other ghost hybrid. But now, for the first time I've seen the error of my ways when it comes to how my actions have effected you which is why I will never make the same mistake again. Still, even the strongest of people can find themselves feeling lost or hurt by the betrayal of a loved one or due to tragic circumstances that are out of their control, and you've now suffered both almost simultaneously when you're only fourteen."

"Fifteen..." Daniel corrected with a melancholy tone when I paused to let my words sink in and he took the opening, "...my birthday was on the 14th of May actually. We missed it because...you know."

My eyes flew wide open in surprise at this unexpected revelation and I felt yet another pang of guilt due to the simple fact that I have yet to learn even the most basic things about Daniel like when his birthday was or what was his favorite color. Several scenarios ran through my mind all at once coming up with the best way to address this so first off, I smiled cordially and smoothly transitioned to a more relaxed posture as I chuckled, "Well now, look at you, growing up so fast? Now that I know this I can't possibly let us get away with failing to properly celebrate your birthday little badger. I must remedy this oversight at once. Besides, I think this will make a splendid excuse to treat ourselves for the occasion. That being said, as much as I admire your sister, perhaps she's not ready to see you yet and the last thing we want is to dampen the mood with a tearful reunion or feelings of regret for missing out on it in the first place. Tell you what, in honor of your belated birthday I can at least wait until AFTER dinner to address the present issue because, frankly, I want to give you even a small reason to smile again little badger and I hope celebrating a belated birthday will do just that. How ironic that you told me your sister's favorite birthday breakfast when it was an unconscious result of you lamenting missing your own? A shame I can't do anything about breakfast now, but I think it'd be alright to risk adding something at least a little heavier to your diet as long as it's only for tonight and you think you can keep it down. I'll hire a professional chef right away to take care of dinner. As for presents we can always take care of that later since I would like to update your wardrobe to include something that isn't threadbare like what you've been wearing for heavens knows how long. I do however have a gift in mind though that should tide you over in the meantime. I'll give it to you after dinner before we have our discussion. So, tell me, what do YOU usually ask for for your birthday dinner Daniel...?"

* * *

Danny's POV

Yeah, I didn't expect Vlad to give up on fishing for answers so easily but it was worth a shot right? Still, my old instincts were telling me that this whole belated-birthday distraction was just a ruse to make me lower my guard while these weird new feelings I was trying to figure out about Vlad were telling me that he really did want to give me something to smile about in the midst of all this crappy stuff going on. Besides, at least Vlad was willing to set his _'interrogation'_ about Dan aside until after spending some down time together since we've both had a long crazy day...

I'm more inclined to believe Vlad actually cared how I was doing too because the truth was I was already feeling a lot better thanks to Vlad sending heat energy through me to counteract these cold waves. I was still a bit cold but it was manageable and at least I wasn't shaking like a leaf anymore. Eventually, after failing to come up with a reason to duck out of this birthday thing decided to just welcome the distraction of a hot meal; especially since I'd be sharing it with another person. Sure it was Vlad, but I was kinda getting used to the idea of relying on him a bit more after he openly admitted that a lot of what he told everyone was lip-service like I suspected it was after all. It didn't change the fact that Vlad actually believed in me, in who I was, even if he wasn't all that impressed with the whole hero thing. Having him finally outright tell me I'd made a difference and that he had every confidence I could overcome this whole mess with his help made me feel kinda awesome I gotta admit. It's been awhile since anyone aside from Jazz, Sam, and Tucker gave me any sort of recognition for the hard work I did fighting all those stupid ghosts.

Anyways, I know there was a good reason behind it, you know the whole nearly-dying thing, but as if things weren't depressing enough I just had to miss my birthday too because of it. That's why even though I was trying not to show it too much, I was actually really happy that Vlad wanted to celebrate it. Even if it was just a lame excuse to help us unwind a bit before the big _'talk.'_ I doubt Vlad has realized it yet but this particular birthday of mine was kinda a big deal too. Originally Jazz was going to start teaching me to drive once I got my actual learners permit. She was going to run interference on our dad too so he wouldn't get involved in the whole process...

It was no secret that dad wanted to teach me to drive in the Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle, and I think it's pretty self-explanatory as to why that was a VERY bad idea. Driving into battle with a ghost was one thing, but driving down the highway with civilians was another. There was no way I was going to learn to drive a _'normal'_ car in that death trap. Truth be told I pretty much already knew how to drive thanks to how many times I ended up operating the Op-Center and Spector Speeder but the tricky part would be learning and memorizing the actual rules of the road since human rules don't really apply as much when you've got a giant Dragon ghost ramming into you. That was only back when Dora was still getting used to her family's transformation powers though, she told me that herself after we kicked her brother's scaly hide.

In a way it might be a good thing that we missed my birthday this year since it was probably gonna suck anyway because I would have had to listen to the same _'Inheriting Fenton Works Speech'_ every year from both my parents. Every year they would go on and on about being so proud and excited that I was getting that much closer to taking over the family business rather then focus on what birthdays were supposed to be about, namely, you know, me being born? Not that I'm trying to be selfish, but birthdays in general were suppose to be like that one day of the whole year when it was ok to get away with it. Speaking for myself I usually only counted the small _'party'_ I threw with Sam and Tucker as my real birthday because of the way my parents took over my birthday and made it about them. I could be myself around my two best friends without having to force a smile, nod, and pretend like I'm having a good time when I wasn't really because dad almost always ate like half the cake by himself if mom didn't set some aside and I got maybe three or four presents tops. Again, not that I was one of those spoiled brats that liked to count them, but still, I was lucky if even ONE of them was something I ACTUALLY wanted and not another ghost invention I'd have to disable and hide somewhere before it did something funky to my half-ghost. At least they didn't start giving me weapons until I was _'old enough'_ for them, then again, since when should a teenager be given a small ghost laser anyway?

Either way, I was kinda glad and a bit sad at the same time that this year it would only be me and Vlad celebrating my birthday. I agreed that Jazz might not be up to visiting just yet what with everything mom and dad put her through; I wanted to give her some time to herself because Jazz deserved a breather too. I'd make it up to her later if she felt bad about missing it. At least her gifts were always thoughtful even if it wasn't something I'd normally want.

Speaking of _'being thoughtful'_ Vlad seemed to be really gungho about this whole belated birthday thing which made me laugh since you'd think he'd never celebrated one before. Then again, knowing Vlad, what was the point in buying himself presents for his birthday when he could buy literally anything he wanted? Besides the Packers obviously. For years I doubt Vlad had anyone to truly celebrate with that cared about him either and they only used whatever parties he threw as an excuse to suck up to him. That must've been lonely now that I think about it so maybe I was more _'on the money'_ then I thought...

At first I just humored him and let him do his thing since Vlad looked so happy and was going out of his way to hire this fancy chef guy to make us dinner. And while we waited Vlad spent the rest of the time asking me harmless but still pretty embarrassing questions about the stories Jazz told him about me. Geez, even with all this going on she was such a chatter box! Why did Jazz tell him all this unnecessary crap?! That was SO typical of my big sister to run her mouth as much as my parents sometimes and make me wanna hide in a hole from embarrassment for the next ten years! Anyways, because of her big mouth I had to painstakingly correct Vlad several times and educate him on what ACTUALLY happened since obviously Jazz didn't have as good a memory as she claimed to. Vlad seemed all the more amused with my flustered reaction when I told him about the time Jazz accused me of having a girlfriend, which I didn't. I shot him a dirty look but he just laughed harder. What I didn't tell Vlad for obvious reasons was that I almost did land a girlfriend once, but that turned out to be a bust when Val friend-zoned me before I could even ask. Still, girl troubles were the last thing on my mind and now we both knew that painfully well since Vlad was forced to give up on my mom. Made me wonder if either of us was ever going to find someone we could be ourselves with someday or if we were doomed to remain lonely half-ghost bachelors forever...

* * *

Before I knew it, things started to become more relaxed between us as time went on and then Vlad stumbled upon my love of space travel and talking about that really got me animated whether I wanted to be or not. It didn't matter who I was talking to, I could be as nerdy as Tucker when it came down to anything related to NASA or the stars. Vlad even offered to get me an early release of that one movie I was going to see with Jazz if I passed my Social Studies test, Star Thief 3, it was going to be my birthday present from her this year but I told him I'd pass on letting him get a copy of it for me. It felt weird to get something in advance like that. It felt too much like cheating the system. And I'm sure you could understand why I no longer felt the same rebelliousness I had before to bend the rules after...well you know.

In the back of my mind I was worrying over that too. Should I go ahead and tell Vlad about Dan now that I knew what was happening wasn't purely in my head? Up until now Vlad's been doing everything he set out to do to help me while also going out of his way to keep me in the loop as much as possible so it was only right to toss him a bone, right? It should be safe to tell him his name at least because there was nothing out there here on Earth or in the Ghost Zone for Vlad to find. Dan didn't exist in this world, yet. So even if I told him about Dan, short of actually meeting Clockwork himself in his tower there was no one who knew about my evil self aside from me, Sam, Tucker, and my sister. And Jazz had already told him everything she knew about Dan since she met him shortly before the rewind which meant that thankfully what she told Vlad wasn't enough to go on either.

He didn't have to know everything about Dan to stop us from recreating him again. Vlad could make his own assumptions about Dan with the information he had so as long as he never found out Dan was ME I'd just have to play along with whatever he came up with. So yeah, as long as Vlad NEVER found out Dan and I were one and the same everything would be fine. It had to be. As long as I didn't totally lose myself, and my family and friends were kept safe, if I could just reclaim some control over my life with his help I would be able to erase the possibility of Dan existing again without sacrificing myself entirely.

Simple, right?

Well no, I'm sure Vlad still had a few tricks up his sleeve and was pretending as usual that he wasn't up to something, we both knew he totally was. Even if it was for a good cause this time since Vlad was serious about protecting me I wasn't about to give hand the reigns over to him. Vlad needed to know that if we were going to make this work, it was a two way street. I would confide in him and share as much information as I felt comfortable with, and in exchange Vlad would be straightforward with me too and stop putting innocent people at risk with his evil plans to focus on helping me if he was serious about not playing the role of arch enemy anymore in my life. When I put it like that though, if I was the reason Vlad had a better one to use his powers for and that reason was me, then good, I was happy about that.

We couldn't erase the past so the most we could hope for was that Vlad and I could come to an understanding and put effort into this on both ends, and so far things were looking up. I got my wish. A wish that I've had since I met him actually. For Vlad to be on my side, which was different then being AT his side, that just made me feel like some prize to be won and not a person. I was so relieved Vlad wasn't being a fruitloop as usual trying to manipulate me, and for the first time since we met, I felt like I could spend time getting to know him better too. Not just his ghost half, but the man as well who has seen more of the world then I ever will. Or, well, ever has on this side at least since not many people could say they've taken many a trip into the Ghost Zone.

Dinner would be a good place to start since Vlad's been quizzing me while we waited for the chef to prepare our meal and then leave once it was ready so he wouldn't get in the way of the esteemed Vlad Master's _'guest'_ which just so happened to be me. Now it was my turn to quiz Vlad! Of course, Vlad still didn't want anyone else to see me and report seeing me to the police so it was much easier to just send the man away then to waste the energy overshadowing him so he wouldn't recall anything from this evening. I was against that plan anyway, you know, being the hero I am that like to protect people, and Vlad just sighed and agreed to send him away as originally intended.

Little did I know I was going be to getting more then I bargained for because if there was one thing Vlad loved to do, it was talk about himself. Crap, looks like I was in for a long night too. Guess it was too much to ask to have a normal birthday for once even with the richest man alive. Or should I say, half-alive...?


	33. Does This Darkness Have A Name?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (05/25/2018):** For dramatic effect please look up this poem below on Youtube. I've never seen the show but it's from _"One Tree Hill"_ and if I had clips from Danny Phantom show I would have loved to make a trailer for this story using this but sadly I don't.

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Chapter 32: Does This Darkness Have A Name?

" _Does this darkness have a name? This cruelty this hatred. How did it find us, did it steal into our lives or did we seek it out and embrace it? What happened to us that we now send our children into the world like we send young men to war, hoping for their safe return but knowing some will be lost along the way. When did we lose our way? Consumed by the shadows swallowed whole by the darkness. Does this darkness have a name...is it your name?"_ **~ Lucas Scott**

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Danny's POV

As the evening wore on, so did the novelty of this whole mini belated-birthday celebration. While it lasted it was a good escape from reality, but now it was time to wake up and smell the roses. The moment dinner was over I could feel the dread forming in the pit of my stomach that had nothing to do with the amazing meal we just had, making me worry that I might not be able to keep it down because of nerves and not the fact that I was still recovering. The feeling became progressively worse as I grimly thought of how to give Vlad what he wanted without revealing any more then necessary about Dan. That's why I really hoped Vlad would keep his word and settle on just hearing his name.

I just had to keep telling myself that as smart and resourceful as Vlad was, if there was nothing there to find I was safe. Even he didn't have a method of time traveling or knew about Clockwork and I planned on keeping it that way. I needed my own answers from Clockwork about how and why I was suddenly seeing and hearing Dan in a physical form anyway; because well, shouldn't that be like...impossible? Anyway Vlad obviously noticed my discomfort when I kept shifting restlessly in my chair at his huge mahogany dining table that could easily seat twelve people, but of course Vlad kept his expression carefully blank and stoic while patiently waiting for me to open up and spill the beans. At least Vlad kept his end of our bargain and waited til after dinner to start looking at me expectantly. I knew he wasn't going to wait for long though so I scrambled to look for a way to buy some more time when a totally legit excuse suddenly crossed my mind and I smirked.

"Hey Uncy Vlad?" I cooed, making him finally show some emotion by raising a skeptical eye brow.

Just as I was about to voice my brilliant plan, Vlad crushed it by pointing out, "If you are about to point out the fact that we haven't had any birthday cake I'm afraid that may be pushing your luck my boy. What was served to us for dinner tonight was rich enough as it is, and the last thing I want to do is to upset your stomach more than it likely already is due to your nerves. I can see it written all over your face like an open book. I'm sorry Daniel, but I'm afraid that will have to wait until I'm satisfied with the progress of your recovery before I allow you to partake in dishes of such decadence."

Groaning in disappointment, I slouched in my seat and grumbled, "Aw man, are you serious? I can't even enjoy some cake on my unofficial birthday? Talk about cruel and unusual punishment. At least here dad can't eat half of it by himself so I could have had seconds! This is so lame..."

"Trust me, your stomach would likely punish you for indulging in anything more than you can handle little badger," Vlad smiled in a weirdly fatherly fashion as he ignored the chance to make a jab at my dad and instead reached over and ruffled my hair affectionately. "Besides, wouldn't you rather save that portion of the festivities until your sister Jasmine can join us? I'm sure she would enjoy having enough for a second helping herself too yes?"

My shoulders dropped a little more at the mention of Jazz since I was really worried about her. Of course Vlad had an ace up his sleeve and decided to guilt trip me. And it worked. Even if Jazz needed time to herself I'd like to at least let her know I was ok and set up this visit thing before Vlad-! I flinched when the memory of something Sam shouted at me down in the lab suddenly sprung to mind and it didn't take a genius to see that it really stung...

" _Danny you can't trust that creep! I don't care if he saved your life or not we both know he's bad news! He freaking MADE Dan after all, and even knowing all that you're ok with living with him? Are you insane? Hmph, I guess you'd have to be to even consider it! Can't you see Vlad's only using this whole mess with your parents to get you right where he wants you? If you go with him now you're playing right into his hands! He doesn't care about you! He only wants to take what's left of you and brainwash you into becoming some kind of twisted image of himself! Well fine, if you don't care what happens to you then we shouldn't either. You've CLEARLY chosen the dark side since it's easier then fighting it anymore, so what if he makes you evil? At least you'll finally have a better dad then the idiot who shot-"_

I hissed in pain when my left shoulder literally started to throb at the very mention of what happened but then I blinked in confusion because wait, did Sam even say that last part...? I couldn't remember anymore. It sounded more like something out of one of those nightmares I had where everyone I cared about accused me of already being evil and they either died before my eyes or walked away from me and I couldn't stop them. In the end, I'd end up all alone in the darkness until Dan showed up while playing the sick role of supportive friend and saying that I _'always'_ had him with me so I'd never be alone. Never alone huh? Then why did I feel that way...?

"Daniel, are you alright? Does your shoulder hurt?" Vlad asked mildly, trying not to startle me, but I instinctively jerked away from him anyway, blushed, and then resisted the urge to reach for the source of the slight throbbing.

"Not really," I lied, or rather I thought I had when really it was more of a half truth. For one thing, I wasn't alright but at least the pain in my shoulder didn't last long...

Sitting up straight again since I had accidentally slipped so far down that I was started to fall out of the chair, which I was NOT about to do in front of Vlad, I realized the angle I was at was part of the problem and it was irritating that sore spot. Still, I blinked in confusion when Vlad didn't prod me further and bombard me with more questions about how I was feeling. I looked at him curiously after that only to find that he wasn't even looking at me anymore but rather glaring at my shoulder accusingly, as if remembering how bad it looked only a few days ago and feeling angry that it hadn't healed properly yet like the rest of my injuries.

Shifting under his heated gaze, I coughed into my fist to grab his attention and repeated, "Vlad, chill out will you? It was just a small twinge. I probably shouldn't have pressed my shoulders against the back of the chair like that, that's all. It was an honest mistake..."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously but Vlad mercifully didn't pursue the topic further and accepted my excuse with a curt nod. "Hmm, I suppose that makes sense, but even so I'll need to perform another check up soon to make sure your body won't reject a second blood transfusion since I'll be adding an extra dose of ectro-restorative to it. That should help promote the production of natural ecto-energy flowing through your system just as a normal blood transfusion would help to replace the loss of you red or white blood cells. Hopefully the extra boost to your ghost half's healing abilities will close the wound up completely, not just the external portion and also it should stabilize your core. We may be fortunate my theory regarding using your ghost core to cool down your fever worked, if only indirectly since we never got the chance to test it. However, clearly, allowing it to continue lowering your internal temperature could potentially become dangerous and weaken your immunity system again so better safe then sorry. After all, I'd rather keep you comfortable during our talk."

"Vlad, what're you...?" I began when he placed his hand to my chest and sent another heated pulse of energy through me which caused me to shiver and grip the sides of my chair.

This felt totally weird, yet oddly soothing which to be honest kinda freaked me out at first. That's when I suddenly realized it wasn't just heat Vlad was lending me. No, this whole time Vlad was giving me a small portion of HIS ecto-energy to make up for my own which was still recharging. I felt unnerved by that realization and was about to pull away from Vlad when he nodded to himself and withdrew his hand from my chest, watching me thoughtfully as I rose from my chair and instinctively reached for the power of my core I guess to make sure I really felt ok. Old habit I guess since I wasn't used to Vlad using his powers to HELP me.

"Now then Daniel, lets adjourn to the living room shall we? I'd rather not make you feel as though you're being punished or anything of the sort during our discussion. True, I am not exactly not happy with what transpired, but now that it's been confirmed that an external force is involved I understand that it isn't just your condition that's making your powers as out of control as they are. Our motives are quite different but it would seem that someone other than myself has taken a keen interest in your mental stability," with this eerily calm tone Vlad promised me darkly, "The difference between us though is that I fully intend to mend your shattered confidence while this unknown being only seeks to break you down further. And I will NOT allow this to continue. It is was bad enough when I found out that for years, despite all of your assurances that I was mistaken, you did not feel safe at your home! But, I can assure you Daniel that you WILL be safe in mine even if I have to make an example of this creature by reducing it to ectoplasmic residue to ensure that no one attempts to do you harm under my roof ever again! I won't have it!"

I can't even begin to tell you why but, oddly enough I felt strangely comforted by those words. Sure I didn't like the idea of Vlad destroying anyone, yet he was basically outright telling me that he was willing to watch my back for once instead of shoot it out of the sky and...I wanted that so badly you have no idea. I was so tired of feeling like I was going to be attacked at any given moment even before all this time crap happened with Dan. It was bad enough before when it was JUST the usual ghosts I had to fight, but now even my mind was under attack again and this was much worse than anything Freakshow ever did to me because the one trying to manipulate me was actually an evil version of MYSELF.

At least when Freakshow was controlling me I couldn't really remember any of that because it wasn't the real me acting that way since I was hypnotized into acting like that, but Dan, he was trying to tempt me to the dark side with promises of freedom from all my pain as long as I abandoned my humanity instead of outright killing my family and friends. And was almost scarier about it this time was how I...I nearly gave into my despair the other day because I was so tired of fighting, of being forced to choose between having a life of my own, and doing what was best for everyone else even to the point of giving up on that so they could all have theirs.

Well what about me huh? Who ever saves the hero...? That's why if Vlad was offering me his protection free of charge aside from just...not giving up on myself again and letting him help me for once even though I didn't like his methods then I guess I was ok with that as long as he wasn't causing anyone else trouble. After all, Vlad had a point. For once in my 15 years of life, I wanted to feel safe, I wanted to feel like someone cared enough that I was there to greet me in the morning, for someone to even acknowledge my existence as a person, not just Fenton or Phantom, just...Danny.

At least where Vlad was concerned I knew he didn't want me dead, he never did which I had a hard time believing at first until all of this happened. True, Vlad clearly still wanted me to stay with him and fulfill some of his _'perfect son'_ fantasy, but as long as Vlad was someone who didn't think I was turning evil or was a waste of time then there was still hope for me, hope for both of us, so maybe everything was going to be alright after all just like Vlad said. Maybe Dan was just like the rest of it, a passing nightmare, and Vlad might just be the only person who could- no, he WAS the only person who could help me. Too bad he was also the one who might make Dan's rebirth so to speak a reality.

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We were on our way to the living room when I suddenly stopped walking. I couldn't do this, not if Vlad was going to do the same thing as the Fright Knight and psychoanalyze every word I said! That's why if I didn't do this now on MY terms, out here in the hall, I was going to lose my nerve. Because my lack of control with everything lately was reaching a boiling point.

Thinking back on everything that's happened this week I knew I was only alive because Vlad saved me. But like back then in that other timeline, it was MY mistake that cost me my friends and family. This was no different. I'd lost them all over again and now was living with my former arch enemy. Even if they weren't dead, even if I've already revealed a side of myself I never wanted Vlad to see, I had to avoid making the same mistake as the me who became Dan. And maybe part of that was telling Vlad the part he played in it because...he was as much a part of Dan as I was right?

I was plagued by so much uncertainty that my vision started swimming so I clenched my fists and called, "Vlad, wait."

Causally slowing to a halt, Vlad sighed and turned only his head to face me and replied, "Daniel, there's no need to be so nervous. I gave you my word that I would keep this brief. I only need to confirm a few details about what happened from your perspective before I check the security tapes."

I shook my head, clenching my fists tighter until my nails nearly broke through the skin and I forced myself to uncurl my fingers. Taking a deep breath to brace myself, I breathed, "No, if I don't do this now I never will. You said that Jazz has already told you what she knows about _'him'_ right? Then you already know how...alike we are. Vlad...I really appreciate everything you've done for me, more then I ever expected from you, but this is the one thing I was hoping you'd never find out. I've been through some serious fights Vlad, which I'm sure you can imagine besides the ones we've had but this is different. Whether I tell you his name or not it doesn't change the fact that you have no idea what I'm up against here. That's why I need you to at least make me one last promise."

"That depends on the promise Daniel, because if you intend to play the martyr then I'm going to have to refuse," Vlad replied, taking a step forward when my hand snatched his wrist and I growled.

"Vlad I'm serious! I know it's pointless to appeal to your humanity-" I winced at my own choice of words but I continued anyway, "-but if anything happens to me and I end up losing myself despite your best efforts to stop him, no matter what, don't let me hurt the people I care about. If you can bring me back out of their control, fine, but if not just...lock me up or something to make sure I don't hurt anyone, especially you. That's all I ask."

He blinked in surprise when I asked Vlad to defend himself too, showing him that I actually did care about what happened to him but to be honest part of that was just selfishness. I needed him. Without Vlad I stood no chance against Dan this time and I knew it too. I was too broken, and he was too strong; Dan knew all of my weaknesses and exactly how to get under and inside my skin because once upon a time he WAS me. Leading up to the explosion and Vlad ripping out my ghost half, Dan was me, he was Danny Fenton. I realized that after the dream I had when I saw Vlad's future self cradling my lifeless body. I felt what Dan felt, and unlike before when I saw him only as something evil I had to get rid of, at some point a part of him still felt pain, sorrow, regret, but he abandoned those emotions in favor of darker ones that could overshadow his suffering until eventually Dan forgot how to feel anything else but the satisfaction of bringing everyone to their knees and wreaking havoc.

Frowning at my declaration though, Vlad phased his wrist out of my grip then firmly planted his hand on either shoulder and said, "You make it sound as though you've already resigned yourself to giving into this evil creature's influence Daniel. Surely things are not so hopeless? It may seem so now but perhaps you'll feel better once you've actually spoken to your sister. As for you young man I've had quite enough of these delusions. I told you, I'm going to fix everything and you are going to be FINE! Do you hear me? You are going to be happy again. No more faking a smile through your pain, no more sleepless nights, no more-"

"Stop it!" I exclaimed, shrugging out of his grip, my eyes wide in horror when he began to repeat what Dan said to me through my duplicate. "I am sick of feeling like I'm powerless to stop history from repeating itself when things people have said or done keep happening right and left! Now even you're doing it! You wanted his name Vlad? Well here it is! But I promise YOU this, there's nothing there to find because he shouldn't exist anymore, not in this or any timeline because I thought I chose not to become him already! His name is-" I nearly choked on the three letter name when it came out as a half sob but I was already getting hysterical so my shoulders started to shake and I finally uttered the name of my one true fear. "His name is Dan! There, happy now!? Does that satisfy your curiosity Vlad!?" Laughing darkly, I covered my eyes with one hand and narrowed them as I hissed, "So much for that second chance I was given because like everything else I screwed that up too! That's all I am! A massive screw up! A mess someone else has to clean up just like...just like-!"

Unable to take anymore I abruptly transformed, angrily swiping the tears in my eyes with the back of my hand before Vlad could see them and phased through his chest as I beelined it back to my bedroom. I heard Vlad call out my name but I didn't sense him go ghost to follow me so I allowed myself to break down into tears, hating myself all the more and feeling so ashamed that I couldn't even get through a single day without something setting me off!

Saying his name aloud made this all the more real and it terrified me to the point that I could hardly breath. I was so absorbed in myself that I didn't even notice Vlad come in and instead of making me talk anymore he began to pull the comforter over my shoulders, his eyes laced with regret and uncertainty. I barely acknowledged that he was sitting beside me, watching me weep silently until eventually I cried myself to sleep, unable to bear the crushing weight of the reality unfolding before me that nothing I said or did seemed to stop from progressing down the same path I've been avoiding ever since that day...

"I'm sorry for forcing that information out of you, Daniel," Vlad whispered in my ear, resting his head against the side of mine, as if wishing he could absorb all of my pain since he was more equipped to handle it. "I was afraid this might be pushing you too far but I had no choice. Even so, thank you for finally telling me the truth about why you're so afraid. That was by far the bravest thing you've ever done little badger. You may think it a sign of weakness to expose that to me, but I beg to differ..."

Smiling, Vlad pulled back and stroked my hair a few times before turning on heel and walking towards the door, already plotting on using what little information he had gotten straight from me to make good on his promise to destroy the last obstacle in the way of my recovery from this whole ordeal. But right now...I only felt like a burden to Vlad and my sister and I hated it. I hated myself for ruining the good time we had too before dinner too. It was so bizarre not to see Vlad as a manipulative creep and like the guy I wanted to get to know back at the reunion. It's like I was fighting with those old battle instincts that told me to be wary of him as much as I was fighting off this stupid depression and really I hoped Vlad was right about one thing; once we were out of Amity Park maybe I'd be able to breath properly again because right now I felt so trapped, trapped in my own aching body, trapped by the nightmares, and most of all, trapped by some inescapable and cruel fate that delighted in reminding me that even if the Master of Time was on my side, I was NOT the master of my own fate anymore...Vlad was. And sometimes I wasn't sure if I was supposed to feel relieved, or petrified with fear that he was going to eventually become the instrument of my demise whether he wanted to or not.


	34. Shocking Discoveries!

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 33: Shocking Discoveries!

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Vlad's POV

Perhaps it was too much to ask for that our time together this evening would end peacefully after what a trying day it's been for both of us. Even so I worried for Daniel. This was not like him at all, to doubt himself to such an extreme. Not to mention the poor boy appeared as though he was still allowing the hurtful words of his friends and peers to effect him, even now, and dictate how he felt about himself. But he most certainly was NOT a failure! Daniel has succeeded where many in his position would have failed and given up long ago before they ever got the chance to do what he has done this past year alone! None of this was HIS fault. If anything, the fault lies with this _'Dan'_ character who was adding fuel to the fire consuming his self-confidence...

For having such a simple name, Daniel's fear of even uttering it aloud was more formidable then I expected it to be. Honestly I was taken by surprise when the name wasn't more imposing. I suppose to him though, acknowledging that being at all was the last step to solidifying the fact that this threat was very real, not imaginary, which filled his heart with despair and made Daniel believe that he didn't stand a chance against him as he was now. Which unfortunately to some degree was true, but that's why I was here, to dispose of it for him once and for all. After all, wasn't that was I was best known for? Destroying my enemies? And if there was an enemy of Daniel's out there that could reduce him to this lowly state, they couldn't be allowed to continue their existence. After all, Daniel was my responsibility now, and I swore to myself that no harm would come to him under my roof without dire consequences...

Either way, this was much worse than I thought. But yet, there was part of me that felt just as confused as Daniel was about how any of this was possible if this being no longer existed in the time-stream. The only other explanation there was was that this creature still existed somewhere OUTSIDE of time and had found a way to influence Daniel through whatever unique connection they shared. And first I had to uncover what that connection was in order to sever it.

After bringing Daniel a heated blanket to help with his chills, similar to what I had done before -although sadly my lab was still in shambles and some of my equipment had been badly damaged by Daniel's outburst- I uploaded the security footage from the last 24 hours to analyze. Hopefully the mainframe hadn't been damaged too badly so I could take some energy readings of that ghost Daniel and I sensed shortly before I left to visit his family and make my public announcement. I hoped it was only a random ghost, but it was better to be sure then to go on assuming anything since this situation was anything but natural. Especially given the fact that it physically attacked Daniel through his own duplicate without my knowing, and now I was certain it wasn't a mere manifestation of his fears, it was a separate being that took control of it similar to how Daniel had taken control of one of mine during that confrontation in front of the Nasty Burger when he...

Recalling what Daniel told me about that incident shortly before the meltdown where he attempted to fly away from me, I pondered his words more carefully this time, searching them for clues. _"...You shot me. No, stop it! Stop thinking about it! That was from before all this and I took that blast on purpose to stop you from ruining my life as both Fenton and Phantom..."_ Then there was the last part which again confused me at first since he was referring to something happening _'again'_ which I didn't know was hinting at this alternate future until Jasmine told me about it by accident thinking I was Daniel, " _...Why did one mistake have to cost me everything all over again? Why did it have to send me crawling to the guy who destroys everything he touches? Even...me?"_

Leaning back in my seat worriedly, the same chair I'd settled Daniel into before in fact while he was dazed and I was trying to prevent another mental attack on the boy by shorting out his powers, I wondered aloud, "Now why would Daniel say that? Since when have I ever earnestly tried to destroy him? Well, besides the cloning incident but I've since seen the error of my ways thinking so little of him. Besides, didn't Jasmine tell me that I tried to help Daniel in that timeline...?"

Still not wanting to jump to conclusions I closed my eyes and recalled yet another memory that pulled me in a direction I didn't want to go again with my conclusion. _"...Eventually he broke through it using the same power I used to defeat him, my Ghostly Wail."_ It couldn't be a coincidence that every time that this Dan was mentioned it was synonymous with Daniel. They HAD to be connected somehow, but that still didn't make sense, how could this future ghost have the same powers as Daniel yet also powers that _'neither of us had'_ when we're the only two of our kind? Then again, there was Danielle but she was...a clone, and I wanted to be wrong about my theory about this new ghost BEING some sort of clone as well.

I thought of this before anyway but, even if it was true how could a clone lose anything when they had nothing to begin with? A created being had no memories from before their birth, no emotional attachment to anyone aside from the imprints made by their creator, otherwise known as myself, and whatever powers they had were a result of copying Daniel's DNA so they couldn't possess any powers that he did not unless I somehow further mutated the DNA. That is, unless the link between Daniel and Dan had something to do with telepathy after all, not unlike the link between human twins where they can sense if the other is hurt or track their location. So if Dan was indeed a clone, did that mean in his madness this creature sought to enslave his counterpart and destroy the world that took everything from _'them,'_ not just Daniel? Almost as if they shared the same set of memories too? _"...He lost everything in his timeline, his family, his friends, his entire future, so he took it out on the world. I've already defeated him once, but somehow he's still here, and he...he wants me to become just like him. Angry, bitter, resentful, selfish, he wants me to become a heartless monster and follow the same path he did. He's...he's in my head Vlad, and before you got rid of it he actually TALKED to me through my duplicate!"_

Crossing my arms, I searched my memories for more information to back this up because I refused to believe that I did in fact create this monster that was now haunting Daniel, however, it would seem that all the evidence was pointing to that conclusion. Everything has been chaotic the past few days though so any number of small details I've discovered about his irrational fear of this ghost since Daniel was brought to me by fate could hold the answer, I just needed to find it! Even his sister and friends have mentioned how deeply the cloning incident effected Daniel's self image but could it be related to this Dan character? Did I in fact create another clone in the future that made Daniel kill-

Shaking my head since this was getting me nowhere I stood up and decided to take action instead of ponder about the things I couldn't possibly know or theorize since the future had infinite possibilities only limited to one's imagination and believe you me I had a vivid one so pondering even a few of them could drive me mad. And Daniel was already mentally scarred due to the events of but ONE possible future he was desperate to avoid at all costs. So this was why he was so afraid to rely on me? He was concerned I was going to attempt to make another clone of him, perhaps one created to fill the void since his family was gone that could protect his town in his stead, since I'm assuming I'd want the real one to stay with me so I could help him be happy again which somehow made the clone resentful enough to take Daniel away from me and cripple my future self? Yes that was one possibility. Oh but blast it I was doing it again! Now was NOT the time to theorize! I needed proof so I would know what else to do to prove myself to Daniel through my actions and show him that I was serious about keeping him safe and making him happy again!

"Computer, upload the security footage from my manor for the past 24 hours, including ALL ghost signature readings within a five mile radius, not matter how weak this time. I want to know just how long this ghost has been lurking in Daniel's shadow poised to strike," I spat venomously.

" _Understood, uploading files and ghost signature readings now. Warning, some data may have been corrupted due to damage to the mainframe. Maintenance may be required."_

"Fine fine just get on with it!" I snapped, already moving towards a damaged panel on the wall after grabbing some tools that had been flung across the room to do something useful so that my mind wouldn't have time wander again or I got caught up in my frustration. "Why can't it ever be easy when it comes to Daniel? I really thought we'd made some progress during dinner earlier as far as gaining some of his trust and getting to know the boy better. But then as always, something set him off and we were forced back to square one!"

 _Still, Daniel really is quite passionate about space travel isn't he? I've never seen him look so...alive before. Clearly he was seriously considering a career as an Astronaut, which as I already suspected is why he enjoys flying so much at night. A shame Daniel wasn't able to last long enough to join me for a flight, it would have done wonders for his nerves. Ironic how it was the Fright Knight of all people who suggested doing it,_ A weak smile found its way to my lips as I removed the panel and started reattaching several wires that had been ripped loose...

It was a start I suppose, learning more about Daniel's personal interests so that I could act accordingly to show that I also held an interest in what mattered to him besides his family and friends. Because heaven knows how long ago he'd given up on those dreams becoming a reality to cater to everyone else's needs, dismissing those dreams as something childish that was beyond his reach. But what Daniel failed to realize was that with what he had at his disposal now that he was by my side, this was a chance for him to obtain something much more then that. Daniel may never be able to live a normal life like everyone else, but with his powers and ingenuity he could live an extraordinary one. And I was extremely eager to share with him the perks that came with living with me, the first half-ghost hybrid aside from just having someone in his life who could protect HIM for once; be someone who could teach him more about his ghost powers. I could open doors for him he didn't know existed! I told Daniel as much soon after we met and I still believed it! With my power, influence, and wealth, I could revive all of those forgotten dreams and give them back to the boy on a silver platter. I could love ALL of him, not just his ghost half, because the truth of the matter was I already did.

I meant what I told him before too. Daniel could never do anything that could make me think less of him, not even betray me this time because I knew now that whatever he chose to do concerning our relationship now it would only be out of either fear of himself, an attempt to do the right thing, hurt from MY betrayal that spurred him to lash out like before when his pranks went too far, or Daniel would be trying to protect me from something he believed was more dangerous and powerful then both of us. Frankly Daniel simply did not have the capacity to willingly harm anyone, whether it was with words, actions, or even physically if it could be avoided. The only reason Daniel fought other ghosts was to defend himself and others from harm. He wasn't in it for the thrill or to study the remains like his parents, Daniel was protecting others, not picking a fight like those two idiots.

Speaking of idiots, I wondered, why had Daniel made no mention of wanting to see his friends too before I moved him? Perhaps their actions had hurt him so deeply that he was afraid to face them? I couldn't blame him if that were the case. Samantha's words in particular were rather ruthless and cruel if I do say so myself, even if they were only said out of anger and fear towards Daniel. At least Mr. Foley, while uncertain hadn't said anything too hurtful, though a lack of faith in his friend might as well have been a slap to the face too. That left only Jasmine, whom as a younger brother Daniel worried about since to him she was likely _'the only family he had left'_ which is why he wanted to see her at least. I could allow that, because to be perfectly honest I was grievously disappointed in his two so called friends to the point where even if Daniel HAD wanted to see them I'd make up an excuse to prevent them from poisoning Daniel against me. As Jasmine said, they're lucky I didn't feel the need to take revenge on them for causing yet another mental breakdown with Daniel that made him try hurting himself again before my very eyes, because like Jack, I despised them all the more for their careless words and actions.

I had just finished repairing the panel nearest to my main portal and was about to move on to fix some other damaged device when the computer announced, " _Security footage upload complete and ready for analysis. Ghost signature readings recorded and ready for review. And finally, automated self-system diagnostic complete. The results are as follows. System damage: Moderate to severe. Recommended repairs: mandatory repairs should be made to the second ghost portal upstairs as a temporal anomaly was detected outside the protective plating at precisely 1:45 pm, moderate repairs are needed in sectors 2, 5, and 7 where the laboratory's inner wiring was exposed and disconnected. Scanners also indicate that a ghost duplicate has been detected within the outer ghost shield within the vicinity of Danny Phantom, caution is advised as it's power level is unknown. Also, due to the percent of damage to the mainframe the following data readings may be corrupted. Readings indicate that the ecto-energy signature belongs to Danny Phantom and Vlad Plasmius, last recorded signature reading recorded at 1:52, visual confirmed."_

Pausing what I was doing, with a baffled expression on my face I turned and ordered, "Well well, whoever this Dan is it looks like he got a bit sloppy. Did he really think he could hack into my system and disguise his presence as ours? Future ghost or not I'm no fool. At any rate, show me any and all footage of this _'presence'_ and of Daniel."

" _Warning, holographic screens are still damaged, requesting alternative viewing method."_ The computer replied and again, I snarled, I was exhausted and wanted to get this blasted day over with quickly! Therefore, I almost got whiplash from how quickly I created a duplicate who grabbed the tools from my hand to continue making some manual repairs -just to keep the lab functioning long enough to help Daniel if his powers went out of control again if need be- and I teleported to my private study and downloaded the same footage to my laptop.

Rubbing my temples, I took a moment to recompose myself and started watching the recordings starting from breakfast this morning. It was rather disturbing to actually see Daniel unconsciously slip into _'battle mode'_ and transform when we sensed that first ghost and I could tell it troubled him even more so, hence the nervous joke and his futile attempt to flee to his room before I saw him lose his composure again. Ignoring that for now since that at least had been a self-defense mechanism in response to the presence of an unknown ghost when he was already on high alert I focused on analyzing the signature to see whether it belonged to anyone I knew or if it was truly random...

* * *

I couldn't help but scoff when it turned out to be one of those feather brains after all. You'd have thought they'd learned by now how to tell when the shield was up or not instead of slamming right into one like a bird into a glass window but I chalked it up to them being ridiculously old fashioned to the point where they forgot there was such a thing. At any rate that did little to belay my troubled mind as I watched the rest of our interaction this morning unfold before I left Daniel to his own devices. I frowned again, thinking I should have had someone watching him from the shadows all along to avoid all this but live and learn I suppose.

Once he finished his meal, which I was glad that he managed it and even did the polite thing of rinsing his dishes and placing them in the sink, I watched Daniel make his way to the stairs before realizing he wouldn't be able to and simply transformed and floated up instead. I was going to have to have a word with him about that since I warned Daniel against using his powers too much and delaying his recovery by wasting even that much ecto-energy. At least Daniel changed back once he reached the top and made his way back walking slowly and close to the wall, you know, in case he needed the support. However, his expression melted into a deeply troubled one and Daniel paused to stare at his hands, flexing them as he recalled decimating that poor fork.

" _I'm not sure if it's because I'm getting better but...seriously since when have I been strong enough to crush things like that? The rush of ghost power I felt this time when I sensed that ghost was way more intense then usual too. It was like...without thinking I sort of snapped into battle mode and automatically assumed Vlad was the source of it and honed in on him."_ Frowning, Daniel muttered, _"That's stupid. At least right now he's not being the usual fruitloop so what the heck is wrong with me? Maybe my powers are having issues again because of what happened and I just have to get better then they'll go back to normal, right? After that I have to-"_

Mid-sentence his voice became nonsensical as the video flickered and the image distorted before a few seconds passed and it returned to normal. Of course the data had been corrupted right when Daniel was voicing his concerns, curses! However, something had caught my attention directly behind Daniel while the screen was flickering so I decided to take a closer look, "Computer, rewind the footage back exactly 15 seconds then play back frame by frame. I could have sworn there was something else there."

After confirming my order it did so and I watched carefully as something odd happened behind Daniel and if not for my excellent eyesight I would have missed it. Directly behind Daniel I saw what almost appeared to be a portal either opening or closing using what appeared to be the large hand of a clock. The image was so faint and barely there behind the static that I almost believed that some other footage had blended into the corrupted video and overlapped. It passed so quickly that even my scanners never picked up any readings. Well that was disturbing to say the least. Still, so long as it had nothing to do with what threatened Daniel I filed that data away for further analysis then continued watching the rest.

Sadly, I expected as much when I saw Daniel decide against resting since he was afraid of having another nightmare and chose to search for something to watch. My guess was that he wished he could watch these shows with his friends and felt lonely since Daniel would almost pick something before his face fell and he flipped to something else. Eventually, just like Daniel himself told me, he chose a ghost movie to watch called The Others. I had never seen it myself so I briefly looked it up and it seemed harmless enough and nothing like all those zombie and monster films or shows he'd been sifting through before. However, during a certain scene the door started to creak open which set myself and the Daniel in the recording on edge. It turned out to only be Maddie though and we both heaved a sigh of relief...

But then, moments later Daniel's ghost sense went off and I snapped back to alertness when a puff of cold air escaped his lips. He called out, wondering if it was just me, but when there was no reply just as Daniel told me he transformed and began searching the mansion for the _'intruder.'_ I frowned when Daniel tested the lab's portal to see if it'd open until I realized he was checking to see if they had used it to get in rather then him getting out so I relaxed and continued to observe his progress. When he reached the second portal hidden behind that large painting of myself as a historical figure on horseback it occurred to me that the time stamp was matching up to what the computer told me about the temporal anomaly, so did that mean the second portal was malfunctioning? That would explain how a ghost got into my mansion virtually undetected. Either way, I noticed that Daniel was beginning to act rather strange which could only mean I was correct in my assumption that his ghost half was instinctively seeking out the ambient ecto-energy on the other side to replenish it's own which wasn't regenerating quickly enough, especially since Daniel insisted on using his powers as a crutch.

Speaking of which, Daniel must have realized what was happening and tried to resist it by changing back which unfortunately caused him to go into a mild shock and collapse. My heart skipped a beat seeing this but Daniel was smart to wait it out instead of push himself too far. Shortly after though Daniel seemed to slip into a sort of trance and made his way back to the portal, clutching his aching head. He stopped midway however and to my surprise Daniel dropped the hand holding his throbbing skull and held it out in front of him. But he wasn't facing the portal itself to shoot at it so what in the world...?

1:45 exactly, Daniel's hand charged with green ecto-energy and inches from his palm something almost seemed to be warping the space in front of him to rip it apart and...! "No, that's not possible. Computer! Analyze Daniel's energy readings!"

" _Understood, energy readings indicate the use of ghost energy being used to pull temporal energy towards the subject in an attempt to create a ghost portal and-"_ Whatever else the computer was about to say became the last thing on my mind when the recording -which I had forgotten to pause in my haste- picked up disembodied laughter as a barely distinguishable figure approached Daniel, his image wavering but in spite of this they strode forward confidently before slowing to a halt in front of Daniel who lay sprawled out on the floor barely clinging to consciousness.

He looked exactly as Jasmine described to me, at least from what I could tell since I could barely make him out and his back was towards the camera anyway. There was the black and white cape fluttering in a non-existent wind attached to his broad torso, a head of flaming white hair tied back in a ponytail, and I could see a hint of blue skin peeking out from those flames on his pointed ears...

However, for reasons I cannot explain, it wasn't until he spoke and I heard his voice that the sight of him inadvertently sent a shiver up even my spine as I heard them -or Dan I'm assuming- chuckle in amusement at Daniel's pitiful condition and say, " _Looks like you still have a long ways to go before you catch up to me, Danny. But don't worry... I promise that you will...and then you'll truly be free to go and do whatever you want. And in turn...so will I..."_ After that, the figure knelt beside Daniel and whispered something in his ear that made the boy whimper before he straightened up again and at last turned towards the portal and I got a clear view of his face, well semi-clear since he was so translucent he was barely there. Then, musing to himself I suppose, before he faded away entirely that...monster chuckled, " _Breaking you is going to be so much fun the second time around, because trust me, I'm doing us both a favor getting rid of those stupid human emotions sooner rather then later. I can't wait to see the look on that cheese-head's face when he realizes what he's begun all over again! Well, too bad I'm not leaving him alive long enough to see the new world we create together. Can't risk him screwing that up for us now can I Danny? Still, if you had been smart...you would have kept on flying past his new home here in this timeline. Then again, how could you with your parents hunting you down like some rabid dog? And when he learns the truth about you, I wonder how long it'll take before Uncy Vlad decides to put you down himself in the name of saving what's left of you like before? Keep that in mind before you go spoiling the surprise won't you...?"_ After that, he faded away entirely leaving me at a loss for words, and a loss at what to do about this second new power it seemed Daniel was developing...

The power to create portals.


	35. Finding Closure

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 34: Finding Closure

* * *

Danny's POV

When I woke up the next morning I half expected to hear Vlad knock on the door and ask what I wanted for breakfast but he never showed up. I was worried at first, wondering if he was plotting something when I decided it didn't matter because there was nothing I could do about it anyway. My whole body ached from suppressing my shivers even with the heated blanket Vlad brought me at some point during the night and I cranked it up as high as it could go. It helped for awhile but then my core decided to make my chest hurt so I'd sit up, rip the blanket off, and subject myself to letting the cold feeling spread so at least it wasn't all hurting one place. I did this at least three times before I finally stayed asleep but again, I felt really sore and tired.

My mouth was dry too, which I could fix by getting a glass of water but that required movement and I had only just managed to get comfortable again. I sighed. I felt bad for snapping at Vlad like that when really he wasn't being that pushy about the Dan thing since he knew it was a touchy subject for me, but at the same time, when things that happened in the other timeline started to happen once I decided to give Vlad a chance it made me wonder if I made the right choice. Could Sam and Tucker be right? Was I only fooling myself into thinking Vlad could change? That together we could make sure Dan was never created? And that Vlad wasn't going to drive me literally to an early grave...?

Bundling myself up tighter I sighed again, my chest still so tight with anxiety that I could hardly catch my breath. That's when part of me wondered if I wanted to be left alone or if I would feel better when Vlad finally did show up. Either way, I groaned, not wanting to move but I had to reach down to grab the controls for the heated blanket again to turn it back to high when the shivers started again. I was so uncomfortable and tired but all I wanted to do was sleep and not think about anything for awhile until I mustered the courage to ask Vlad if he'd call Jazz. Because over dinner Vlad told me that his castle was nearly ready for us so all that was left to do was to get me out of here first so the movers couldn't stumble upon me getting the rest of Vlad's things out. Normally he would have left anything superficial behind that he could simply replace but Vlad didn't want to have anything more to do with Amity Park or give my parents any reason to believe he was keeping his mayoral home which they could try visiting if Vlad came to town in person to give them news about the _'search'_ for me or come visit to personally supervise the making of ghost shields or something else in Axion Labs. To put it bluntly, Vlad was making a clean break and suggested I do the same to some degree so I wouldn't be consumed by the guilt I felt for leaving everyone to defend themselves from other ghosts, including my family and friends...

Speaking of _'friends,'_ now that I was calmer about it I actually started to feel seriously miffed that Sam said all that crap to my face when she had NO idea how hard this was for me. I didn't PLAN to come to Vlad's, I didn't WANT my parents to learn my secret, and most of all, I WASN'T turning evil! How could she even suggest that? They met my evil self and they knew how hard I had fought for them because of how beat up I was after that fight, and then I told them what happened before the rewind once Clockwork saved their lives since I couldn't go ghost to do it myself. I fought with every fiber of my being to save them, to NEVER become that creep, but now after one mistake that had nothing to do with cheating on some stupid test, I was driven away from my home all over again feeling like I had nowhere else to turn. I never even CONSIDERED going to Vlad's until I had no choice in the matter and he surprised me by actually giving a crap about me and even saying he was sorry for what he's put me through lately. Now that I was here though, as much as I was trying to be careful not to reveal too much about myself or Dan since yeah, now there was THAT to worry about on top of my parents being out for my ectoplasm as Danny Phantom, I actually found myself feeling better about letting Vlad help me this once since he was serious about it and finally understood that things haven't been as easy as I led him to believe.

Anyways, the very thought of Sam and Tucker made my blood boil because they knew me better then anyone aside from my sister so what gave them the right to lecture me about the choices I've made? They had no idea what it was like being afraid of your own parents when you're supposed to love them and be a good son; they didn't know what it was like to wake up all hours of the night having to fight for your life against god knows how many ghosts since they didn't ALWAYS go with me every night, and even if they did they weren't dealing with more ghosts afterwards thinking we'd caught them all; they didn't know what it was like to be so sleep deprived the morning of a big test and fail only to be called a layabout when I would have gotten a better grade if I had time to freaking study but was too busy either fighting ghosts or bandaging my wounds that couldn't heal right away like, say, a broken leg? No, the two of them were always telling me what I should be doing with my powers and what not to do when it wasn't something I could turn on and off, not exactly anyway, because it was a part of me now. And they only knew one side of what it was like to be half-ghost.

Tucker had gotten jealous enough before that he wished for ghost powers too so I tried not to show off as much in front of him but sometimes I felt like I couldn't fully enjoy my powers because I was worried about making him feel bad again. Then there was Sam, boy, she knew how to drill me about morals when she didn't have to worry about some GIRL beating her up almost daily. She could ignore any verbal abuse from the popular kids, partly because she was secretly loaded anyway, but if Sam had to worry about getting PHYSICALLY BEATEN by Dash I bet she wouldn't get on my case so much for getting at least a little payback once in awhile. It was harmless anyway and I held back since I knew as Danny Phantom at least I could really hurt Dash if I wanted to, and I'll admit that on some of the really bad days I seriously wanted to nail him and get him to leave me alone once and for all, but I didn't do anything since that was _'wrong'_ and continued to get beaten up on top of still feeling sore from ghost fighting the night before or in most cases that very same day!

I cared about them, they were my best friends, but they really hit below the belt this time and I wasn't sure if I was ready to forgive that. I didn't need another lecture from them, I needed their support while dealing with losing my family, my life, everything that made me who I was. That's not what they gave me though. Instead, Tucker sat on the sidelines, doubting my choice to stay with Vlad and Sam outright lost it and verbally lashed out at me. Normally I admired her passion but this...this was crossing the line. If Sam really cared she would have trusted that I was doing the best I could under the circumstances. Both of them could have trusted me. Guess that was too much to ask of them. Especially when most of the time, I TOLD them go home to get some sleep while _I_ kept fighting ghosts to keep them and everyone else safe and they ended up with PLENTY of time to study, _I_ was the one risking my neck day after day so that THEY could feel safe when I hardly ever did anymore no matter where I went, _I_ was the one who gave up on my ONE dream to do what nobody, not even my own parents, could do which was stop all these ghosts from seriously hurting anyone or taking over this town. And after being gone only a few days, someone had ALREADY gotten hurt according to Vlad since some plant ghost got loose and broke the arm of some girl's boyfriend. Pfft! As if I ever could have a girlfriend anyway since I was devoted to fighting ghosts 24/7 so even that guy was luckier than me!

Anger and frustration began boiling up inside of me, making my eyes shine green as I held my pillow in a deathgrip when there was a knock on the door and it immediately evaporated. Ok well, not really but at least I calmed down enough to ease up on my grip before I grumbled, "Go away Vlad, I'm not hungry."

As expected, that darn fruitloop didn't listen and opened the door anyway but I refused to face him. Thinking about my friends put me in a foul mood and I decided, yeah, I did want to be left alone after all. Still, I was surprised when Vlad spoke in a mirthful tone and chuckled, "Come now Daniel don't be like that. You'll miss my surprise if you stay in bed all day."

"Fine by me," I shrugged, pulling the blanket tighter, "I'm really not in the mood for any more _'surprises'_ after yesterday. And besides, didn't you want me to get some more rest anyway? Well I can't do that if you keep bugging me so go away..."

I thought for sure Vlad was going to pull the same thing he did yesterday by ripping off the blanket but he remained silent which put me more on edge. What the heck was his deal? Was he waiting for me to look him in the eye or something? Well tough luck, I wasn't moving from this spot and Vlad couldn't make me unless he wanted to piss me off even more.

After that I closed my eyes, waiting for him to leave when they snapped open the moment someone else's voice called out to me and said, "You're such a drama king Danny, no wonder you've been giving Vlad such a hard time! Honestly, you were just as bad a patient after the accident too, so grouchy..."

Slowly turning my head towards the voice, I saw Jazz standing beside Vlad with her hands on her hips looking as bossy as ever although she still had shadows under her eyes. I couldn't believe it, why was Jazz here? I looked over at Vlad, who just smiled mischievously and ushered her forward by the small of her back before saying, "Surprise Daniel."

* * *

At first I didn't know how to react as a million things went through my head at once while several other feelings stabbed at my heart. I mean yeah I was happy to see her but at the same time I was worried I might...hurt her somehow like I almost did Sam and Tucker. And if I hurt Jazz then I-!

Too wrapped up in these confused feelings of uncertainty and relief to notice Jazz close the distance between us, she sat down next to me, tears welling up in her teal eyes though she continued to smile warmly at me. That's when I felt a different feeling spread through my heart when I realized...my sister wasn't scared of me, at all, even at my lowest moments. So even if I did have a meltdown Jazz was probably the only person beside Vlad who accepted both sides of me and cared enough to be more worried about me then her own safety; which was a good and bad thing since I'd be more worried about her too if I was in my right mind. She was the one who always told me to embrace the things that made me different from other people and to be true to myself. But right now that's exactly what I was afraid of; being true to the wrong _'self'_ and hurting my only sister. That's why a pained look briefly flitted across my face as I forced my aching body to reach up and hug her since words could not express how happy yet terrified I was to see her here...

Normally I wasn't THAT clingy but this was my sister we were talking about who has always been there for me in ways mom and dad have never been, not that I'd ever admit it out loud. So even if it was only in a small way, I wanted to show her what that meant to me, especially now that I didn't have our parents support anymore. I had so much to tell her! To apologize for, but I didn't even know where to start! As for Jazz herself, geez, she looked nearly as bad as I felt the day this all happened since I had only gotten maybe, what, 3 hours of sleep if that? And the fact that Jazz looked this bad after only a week meant she must have been really torn up about what happened that night and I don't blame her. Not to mention Jazz had no way of knowing Vlad had saved my life the night this all happened either so until he actually told her I was safe she had no way of knowing that.

Speaking of Vlad, while still hugging my sister awkwardly I peered up to look at him but Vlad wasn't even looking at us. Instead Vlad had this weird look on his face that made it almost seem like he had something more serious on his mind. Either that or he was trying not to feel jealous of how easily I accepted Jazz's affection and comfort as opposed to whenever he tried offering his. Still, Vlad DID set this up for me and believe me, he wasn't kidding because I WAS totally surprised to see my sister beside him. The least I could do was thank him for it...

Just when I was about to say something though Vlad turned away from us and declared, "I'm sure you two have much to catch up on so I'll leave you two alone for awhile. I'll be back in less then an hour because I'm afraid there's something that needs my attention. Now Jasmine, if anything...unusual happens while I'm gone would you please inform me immediately of any changes? To do so, just call my private number and I'll return right away. Oh, and Daniel?"

"Y-yeah?" I stammered, suddenly feeling embarrassed that Jazz was still hugging me...in front of Vlad.

With a somewhat bittersweet but sincere looking smile on his face Vlad inclined his head at me and said, "You're welcome."

After that, before I could respond he quietly left the room, oddly enough without hesitating about leaving us alone which meant Vlad really did trust Jazz, didn't he...? If it had been anyone else Vlad would have probably insisted he stay to make sure they didn't turn me against him like he had with Sam and Tucker. Then again, Vlad was also giving me more time to talk with my sister as opposed to the 5 minutes he gave my friends so maybe it was because she was family and had proven herself to him? I have no idea. I still was totally shocked that Vlad went out of his way to set this up for me without telling me when he knew I've been debating on how and when to do this since she still had school and I didn't want to deal with what she might have to say about the situation with Sam and Tucker; especially if they decided to bug her about me again like I'm sure they've been doing ever since my meltdown in Vlad's lab.

* * *

"Brrrr! Vlad was right Danny, you ARE like a human Popsicle!" Jazz suddenly complained, a shiver rippling up her spine and mine when my core decided it was time to act up again which forced her to distance herself a bit. "Are you doing alright? Vlad told me your fever's finally gone which is an improvement from the last time I saw you, but these chills seem really bad."

I blinked in confusion, "What do mean _'last time?'_ "

Blushing, Jazz let go of me entirely and rubbed the back of her head as she nervously chuckled, "Riiiight, the last time I saw you you were still...down for the count after your friends made things worse by breaking into Vlad's mansion. And before you ask, yes I TOLD them that was a bad idea even before I knew he'd found you since we both know how Vlad can be, or used to be anyway."

I rolled my eyes, pulling more of the covers around my shoulders as I sat up further while awkwardly facing Jazz from the side then scoffed, "Wow Jazz, you're just as bad as Vlad aren't you? Watching people sleep like some creeper. Just because you're my sister doesn't make it any less creepy you know, just saying..."

"Hey!" Jazz play-pouted, giving me a gentle nudge on my good shoulder, "Cut me some slack will you? I've been worried sick about you! Besides, I had no idea where you were or if you were ok but then Vlad showed me you were here and I...ok yeah I'll admit I was shocked that Vlad had already found you but it's your own fault I didn't get a chance to talk to you then! I tried to wake you up you were sleeping like a log because you overdid it and brought back the fever he said you'd been fighting off ever since Vlad saved you. I doubt even your own Ghostly Wail could have woken you Danny, you were THAT out of it! Even if you did wake up you may not have been able to remember talking to me anyway you dork."

Raising an eyebrow at her rushed explanation I sighed, which made me frown when it came out as my ghost sense again, then asked curiously, "Jazz, I get that you're worried but you're seriously acting way weirder then usual and that's saying something since you're always like that! Anyways, fine, to answer your first question I suppose all things considered...I'm doing alright. I never thought you'd come looking for me at Vlad's of all places since he wasn't exactly my first choice of people to go to when the whole thing happened. Heck, I never thought I'd end up here myself but as usual fate loves to screw with me like that so I should have expected as much. To be honest I'm still just trying to keep it together until I get better..."

Giving me one of her _'serious'_ looks, Jazz prodded, "Ok, fair enough, but then what are you going to do after that Danny?"

Visibly tensing at the loaded question, I opened my mouth to give her some kind of answer but then nothing came out because, well, I didn't have an answer. What WAS I going to do after I recovered? Was I going to live with Vlad for the rest of my natural life and never see my friends or mom and dad ever again? Maybe go hide out in the Ghost Zone with Clockwork so Dan couldn't be reborn in this timeline because I had to merge with Vlad's ghost half to make him? Or was I supposed to find Wulf and figure out if he could rip a hole into another dimension entirely? Heck was I even going to fight ghosts anymore? What was...what was going to happen to me?! What future did I have left anymore? What choices did I-!

Since I could tell I was already working myself up into a blind panic -which I knew could possibly put Jazz in serious danger because Vlad wasn't here to protect her if I lost control of my powers again- I quickly redirected that energy towards asking about how Jazz was doing instead. That was a safe thing to do, right? I mean it's true that I've been really worried about her lately, especially after hearing about the fights she's had with our parents and with my two best friends over what happened. Arguing about what they were doing wrong just to _'rescue'_ me in one form or another. As far as our parents were concerned, after hearing directly from Vlad that they had actually...destroyed a few lesser ghosts brought back another fear buried in the back of my mind ever since I got my powers that they'd do something bad to me if they ever successfully caught _'Danny Phantom.'_ In the beginning at least, I used to think I was worrying over nothing, but now that they'd actually hurt me to the point that I nearly died couldn't deny that maybe...

"Jazz!" I suddenly exclaimed more to stop myself then to get her attention, making Jazz jump a little at my sudden increase in volume since we'd nearly been whispering this whole time.

It was kinda of a habit of ours to mostly talk in hushed tones like this whenever it came to anything ghost-related indoors and especially around our parents. Then again, mom and dad have slept through nearly being pushed over a waterfall before during the Young Blood fiasco when he was making my parents AND Jazz think I was going nuts so maybe it was one of those things we thought we had to do but didn't really. I blushed a bit after realizing that I freaked Jazz out and coughed into my hand, shyly looking back up at her to see if she was still jumpy from that little outburst. To my surprise though, Jazz just smiled shyly back, her eyes filled with understanding as she nodded for me to continue.

Feeling a little relieved, I took a deep breath and asked her, "Ok so now that you know I'm alive, well, as alive as anyone half-ghost CAN be, how're you doing Jazz? Vlad told me he rented you a room at some hotel right? How's that working out for you?"

"Not just any hotel!" Jazz began, getting surprisingly excited about the prospect of telling me all about it since she was DYING to tell someone about it since she had to keep it a secret from her friends at school. "Vlad got me a first class room at the Hilton Hotel! Very fancy, especially the bathroom! The bath doubles as one of those whirlpool Jacuzzi's with water jets and everything! It was amazing! Oh, and the room has it's own fridge and even a mini-fridge too; though Vlad told me not to touch that smaller one for obvious reasons since I'm underage. Oh my gosh, Danny you should have seen the look on their faces when Vlad and I walked in the door, it was like nothing I've ever seen before! He was so eloquent and polite and acted like he owned the place! The busboy nearly fainted too when Vlad told him to bring my bags up, as if even breathing the same air was a dream come true. Then there was breakfast this morning! Everything was made fresh and I really wanted to bring you one of everything to try since it's SO amazing but Vlad wouldn't let me. I suppose that makes sense though because you're still sick and can't handle anything too heavy yet. Which reminds me!" Leaning in super close to me, Jazz began drilling me like an overprotective mother hen as usual while rattling off questions, "Danny, are you sure you've been eating properly? I know you're stressed out and don't want to eat much because of it but you can't skip out or be picky with your food, especially while you're recovering from such a high fever! Your body needs the calories to make up for the energy it's taking to heal. Also, are you getting enough natural sleep now that you're off the sedatives too and don't have to worry about ghost fighting right now? Or are you having problems with nightmares again? You are aren't you? I saw that flinch! Oh no, you look kinda pale now Danny, maybe should I call Vla-mmmph!"

Clapping my hands over her mouth I exclaimed, "Jazz, seriously! You need to chill out ok? I'm f-fine!"

 _Crap!_ I mentally cursed when another shiver swept over me -as if mocking my word choice or using it as a trigger to bring back these stupid shivers- and I dropped my hands fall from her mouth, pulling away so I wouldn't make her feel cold too before rubbing my arms. That stutter was a dead giveaway on how I really felt because rather then staying away from me like a smart person Jazz of course -being stubborn as usual- sidled closer and pulled me into another hug instead.

Heaving a troubled sigh Jazz apologized, "Sorry Danny, old habits. It's just that you have NO idea how scared I was seeing you like that a few days ago! You looked so...lifeless and..." trailing off she pulled me closer to her and tearfully whimpered, "Don't EVER scare me like that again! I tried not to but I kept blaming myself for not being there for you when you needed me most. I should have been more careful since I knew you've been pushing yourself too hard lately but I just...I needed a break from our parents and everything else ghost-related too just like at the reunion. Not to mention I was sick and tired of your friends treating me like a burden to you all the time. But I can't help but worry about you Danny no matter how capable you are everyone has their limits. I know I was kinda pushy that morning but Danny, I really thought you'd pass that stupid test and kick ghost butt like you always do so it was safe to take a small break from home. I never expected to find out my precious little brother nearly DIED because our parents SHOT him! I was only gone for ONE night Danny, and then I came home to find out that you were out there all alone and badly injured! But you're ok now! You're safe. And I was right about coming to Vlad for help since I KNOW he cares more about you then he'll ever admit! He's...he's going to take good care of you Danny, I'm sure of it! You might not believe it but...Vlad really has changed a lot for your sake even just the past few days. You should have seen the way he handled mom and dad when I was about to...take a drive." Pausing to take a long deep breath to calm her nerves, Jazz exhaled and shifted into her 'professional' mode and said in closing, "Phew...ok, so before we run out of time, I should let you know what you've missed at home and at school and then you can tell me what's happened since you woke up. Deal?"

Relaxing into her safe and familiar embrace now that Jazz wasn't drilling me anymore, ignoring part of what she said about Vlad since even now I still had my doubts, I nodded and replied with a nervous laugh of my own, "Deal."


	36. Implications

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 35: Implications

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Vlad's POV

No sooner had I closed the door behind me that I leaned my back against the door for support and craned my head against the wood, a maelstrom of troubled thoughts still at the forefront of my mind that I failed to conceal entirely as usual. I knew by doing this I would relieve some of the pressure on Daniel to make peace with his departure from this insignificant speck on the map but I just couldn't bring myself to enjoy his reaction nearly as much as I had wanted to. After all I had more pressing matters on my mind...

To tell the truth, the real reason I called Jasmine was so that she could serve as a distraction for Daniel while I took some time to consider my options, put some serious thought into what needed to be done to annihilate this new threat before his plans to utterly debase Daniel could come to fruition, and of course deal with the more immediate matter of prepping Daniel's special blood transfusion. His chills were only becoming worse and needed to be taken care of right away. I already discussed this with his sister and Jasmine agreed to help me keep Daniel calm during the procedure since the ecto-restorative was going to make him feel more of a rush then he felt each time I lent him some of my energy to tide him over in the meantime. Unlike normal ghosts we self-generated our own ecto-energy in addition to absorbing the ambient ecto-energy around us from both the Ghost Zone itself and whatever traces were left behind by other ghosts in the area. In fact that was part of the reason Daniel usually healed so quickly after a fight. It was because Daniel was unconsciously absorbing whatever _'wild'_ ecto-energy was left after he captured or chased off a ghost, for once the energy was expelled in the form of an energy blast or what have you it no longer belonged to the user and thus could be reabsorbed by the victor.

All that aside however, the part that I found both the most fascinating and worrisome was what I discovered last night. Daniel had the power to create portals. It was still dormant, at least for now by the look of it, but once his core stabilized the magnitude of what he could accomplish was...astonishing. I was up almost the entire night cross analyzing the existing data I had on Daniel's powers and running through dozens of theories and simulations to figure out how this was even possible. In the end it all came down to one thing-

Our accidents.

Funny how different they were yet right down to our regenerative cores the two of us were so alike, not to mention we are the only two half-ghost hybrids in existence. There was a modest power gap between Daniel an I, at least for now, which was understandable since it had taken a lot of trial and error on my part over the course of 20 years to reach this level of skill and mastery over my ghost powers. Even so it astounded me that Daniel had so much potential hidden within him that had yet to be explored due to the short time he's had these powers. But with my guidance Daniel could learn more about himself and his ghost powers then if he continued trying to figure them all out on his own the way I had to.

The timing couldn't have turned out better really because lately Daniel's powers have been developing at an almost alarming rate, and as a result it would have made the changes that much harder to hide from his parents and peers. If my theory is correct then I believe this is partially due to the fact that Daniel's body is maturing and it's effecting his ghost half. Another part of it is largely because unlike me Daniel's exposure to all of that raw ectoplasmic radiation completely enveloped his body, mutating it beyond recognition, and according to him it happened in a single terrifying moment of agony. I explained this to him before -or meant to at least- but the changes in my physiology happened over an extended period of time while his was accelerated at an astronomical rate. To be perfectly honest I'm surprised Daniel's stay in the hospital only lasted a week or so according to Jasmine.

Speaking of Jasmine, after reminding myself that I needed to give her and her brother some privacy, I suppressed my ghost signature before teleporting back to the laboratory to gather what I would need for the transfusion. Luckily, unbeknownst to Daniel, his sister Jasmine didn't have school today because in truth my people were already working on installing the spare Ghost Shield from Axion Labs onto Casper High as promised. By acting immediately I wanted the people of Amity Park to know and understand the seriousness of the situation they were about to face, because as _'predicted'_ more ghosts would likely soon begin to reappear and threaten their livelihoods, especially their children's. And in order to avoid the same tragedy as what they now thought had befallen Daniel, I decided to do something I normally would not which was share my technology to...help others.

This was not my true intention however, it was purely a strategic move. Although I suppose keeping his friends and sister safe would help put his mind more at ease about the prospect of leaving them behind to live with me. And heaven knows Daniel needed some reassurance right now that wasn't mere words. Because as Daniel himself pointed out, up until I openly changed the role I play in his life to his guardian rather then an adversary, everything I've said to him has been either mocking him, or it was heavily laced with anger or sarcasm against him or his father. Speaking of Jack, as much more as I loathed the man now I wasn't too worried about his parents safety as much as Daniel's. If nothing else they've proven that at least every once in awhile that they could defend themselves against most threats and do something useful for a change, especially during the Pariah Dark incedent. Even so, the more vindictive part of me felt that those two deserved to sample but a small taste of the constant danger their Daniel has been putting himself in during the past year for their sake while hiding the fact that he was half-ghost. Part of me was earnestly hoping that whatever danger they eventually faced would serve as a small justice if you will upon them as well as those two traitors Daniel called _'friends'_ who clearly did not know the true meaning of sacrifice or what it means to be everyone's hero when the boy was struggling to even save himself...

He deserved so much more than this, so much more, and every time I thought about what I witnessed last night it only strengthened my resolve to see to it that Daniel would want for nothing so long as he was under my protection. And I would NEVER allow that foul spirit or whatever abomination he was to break let alone get anywhere near my little badger again. Honestly I felt like such a fool for not realizing sooner that there was something amiss from the moment Daniel had his first panic attack moments after I barely managed to get him breathing again. As difficult as the current situation with his parents was this other matter was much more serious because there was an evil ghost from the future who was actively doing everything in his power to take advantage of Daniel's weakness and unravel the young teen's mind one thread at a time.

After carefully studying the readings and the footage again however once my own mind stopped reeling about the two shocking revelations I had just witnessed, it would seem that this version of Dan was only a duplicate which meant two things. One, this Dan character was powerful enough to maintain a duplicate from within the Ghost Zone which was something even I couldn't manage for very long so I was assuming this was why he only went after Daniel when he was certain no one was there to interfere. And two, because this Dan creature shared such a similar signature to my own and Daniel's, that must be why the security system completely bypassed his signature by accident when I told it to ignore ours. This of course meant that extra security measures needed to be taken so that Dan wouldn't be able to slip past me again so easily to target Daniel while I wasn't there to protect him.

I was still in the middle of gathering the rest of what I needed when I suddenly took a moment to really think about what I was doing. Ever since the day we met I've been fighting Daniel tooth and nail while at the back of my mind I also kept hoping someday he'd come to his senses and realize that fighting me was pointless. Daniel had so much more to gain from joining me then playing the part of some teen superhero. And when all of my attempts to convince him to join me because of how alike we were didn't work I only grew more resentful towards him and desperate until finally I...went so far as stealing his very identity when I foolishly tried to create the perfect son I've always wanted in his image. I just...I wanted Daniel to become my son so badly! Even now, I was doing everything within my power not to chase him off. That is precisely why I want to know who and what this Dan really is, but at the same time I knew that thinking too heavily on the matter since it involved the infinite possibilities of the future it would eventually drive me mad. Because if this Dan character WAS another clone I created in the alternate future of Daniel, the question remained _'why'_ I did so...

What could have possessed me to create yet another clone if Daniel was already living with me? After Maddie, her husband, her daughter, Daniel's friends, and this random teacher passed away in a freak accident what was the point of creating Dan? Perhaps he was created to become something akin to a brother for Daniel to fill the void left behind by the untimely death of his older sister? Who could say? I know I certainly couldn't without more information about exactly what transpired in that timeline leading up to Dan's creation.

Whatever the case may be, in my mind there was only one solution: I had to destroy ALL of my cloning research which would take some time since I had quite a lot of information on Daniel's physiology, some of which I had no choice but to keep in order to continue treating his medical needs. Truth be told, if that was what needed to be done then realistically Danielle should be included in that equation, but right now I couldn't afford to waste my time searching for that little brat when a much more serious threat to my plans for Daniel was actively trying to thwart my efforts to save the boy from himself. That's when I decided so long as she NEVER showed her face again I was content with forgetting all about that failure and leaving her be because in the end, I finally had what I've wanted all along which was the real Daniel by my side. And I would do almost anything to make sure nothing got in the way of that, which was as much for my sake as it was for Daniel's...

* * *

By the time I finally returned after carefully reorganizing my thoughts to focus on the matter at hand, I was happy to see that Daniel was smiling at least a little when I entered the room after giving the door a quick knock. Jasmine seemed worried still but not so much as before and it was more of her usual over-protectiveness shining through since she already knew what I was there to do. Not that I felt much different then her actually since I was also concerned for my little badger. Judging by the uncertain look that flitted across Daniel's face when he saw the medical supplies in my arms, his sister did as I asked and told him we were going to be performing a brief checkup before beginning the transfusion so he would have time to mentally prepare himself. And with Jasmine there, hopefully Daniel wouldn't think that I was plotting to do anything aside from check his vitals.

Smiling at the two siblings before my gaze settled on Jasmine I asked, "So, did you two manage to have at least a somewhat relaxed conversation my dear? I'm sure there was a lot that needed to be said. Still, I trust you both feel at least a little better now that some of the gaps in the story regarding what happened have been filled? Half the battle is knowing the truth before it can be properly confronted and dealt with so you can both begin to move on."

She nodded, putting her hand over Daniel's which made him blush a bit and turn away from us as Jasmine replied, "Yeah, the hardest part was not knowing how Danny feels about this whole thing from when it first happened and why it did. Honestly I'm a bit upset finding out that you were one of the ghosts, or half-ghost's I guess, that Danny fought before he made it home but that's water under the bridge since you did save him in the end. You better not pull anything like that again or you'll get a taste of the Fenton Ghost Peeler!"

"Jazz, don't say stuff like that!" Daniel exclaimed before I could wonder what on earth she was talking about, though from her tone I already knew she was only teasing me to keep the mood relaxed for her brother's sake.

Smirking playfully, Jazz challenged, "Why not? Even if we're on the same side since we're both looking out for you I still have every right to act like your over protective older sister as usual! Besides, Vlad knows I'm only joking. Because even if I did try to kick his butt we both know how outmatched I'd be in a real fight. Come on, at least let me feel a little useful will ya?"

Rolling his eyes, Daniel eyed the medical equipment I was setting up and pouted, "Yeah right Jazz, you've already been VERY useful to Vlad because he used you as a diversion, which you willingly accepted. Geez, and you call me a drama king? You guys could have just told me we were going to be doing the blood transfusion thing today instead of keeping that a surprise too. I could've handled it."

With a mirthful tone I relented, "Yes I have no doubt you probably could have Daniel, but I didn't want to take any chances. Besides, had I done this earlier without calming you down you would've been in a foul mood the entire time, and sadly this procedure is rather time consuming so none of us would have wanted to deal with your usual sass or in a worse case scenario risk you spiraling into another panic attack. Especially not after your display with your friends the other day. Rest assured that your darling sister is only here to help you feel more comfortable since there's a lot I need to do to ensure that this goes smoothly. And before you ask, yes I've performed this procedure before but you were unconscious at the time. Prior to that I've also treated a fair share of injuries on myself so I know exactly what I'm doing from personal experience. Don't worry, most of what we're doing isn't going to be invasive since I mainly need to check your vitals before starting the drip. However, unlike a normal transfusion I will be adding an extra dose of ecto-restorative to help jump start your healing powers again which in theory should regulate the cold energy your ghost core is currently self-generating. That means you're going to feel something akin to an adrenaline rush regardless of how slow the drip is meaning I'll need to monitor your condition to make sure there aren't any more complications. Your sister agreed to stay here to help support you as well since this should be the last transfusion you need Daniel. Just let me know when you're ready to get started since I need to take a blood sample beforehand to make absolutely sure the infection is gone. I also need to check your body temperature to make sure it isn't too low. After all, we obviously don't want your new power to flash freeze the blood-bag, now do we?"

"Fine fine," Daniel replied, waving his free hand dismissively before giving me a sly smirk as well and repeating in a similarly mirthful tone, "Lets just get this over with so we can have cake, I promised Jazz some since you wouldn't let me have any for my unofficial birthday and you wouldn't want to disappoint her too, now would you...?"

"Of course not dear boy," I chuckled in reply. "However, that doesn't mean YOU are necessarily ready to have any yet yourself. Or did you forget that already?"

Grimacing, Daniel gave in and admitted, "Drats, I was hoping you were still too wrapped up in whatever had you making that face earlier to notice that. Seriously Vlad, you seem more worked up then I am about this transfusion thing. I'll be fine. And...uh...you did invite Jazz here so I finally got a lot off my chest that I need to talk to you about. It's my friends, they-"

Shaking my head, I put a hand on her sister's shoulder to silently signal for Jasmine to move aside so I could begin the check up by checking his pulse and explained, "We'll worry about them later Daniel. For now we need to focus on getting YOU taken care of. They made their choice and are paying the consequences for their actions much like your parents are and as I said before, I'm letting those two friends of yours off extremely lightly if only for your sake. Be mindful of that Daniel because I do NOT normally let anyone get away with deprecating me. If I had my way I'd make them regret ever having crossed Vladimir Masters. Your sister understands that too because legally I was well within my rights to get them sent to Juvie for breaking into my house and having that put on their permanent record; and you three don't exactly have a spotless record to begin with. At least in your case I know most of it is due to ghost activity or your powers causing...accidents. Regardless, if you're about to say what I think you are then it's just as well anyway since they're both grounded for the rest of the month. It would be more difficult to arrange a meeting with them anyway so I was going to suggest waiting until you feel ready and have settled in before reaching out to them again. Don't worry, I'm already going to be creating a secure method of communication between you and your sister that can't be traced back to us and we'll do the same for your friends if that is what you desire. Alright, hold still Daniel, I'm taking a blood sample so you're going to feel a slight sting. Then again, this is probably nothing compared to...well you know." I hated bringing that up at all but it was true, Daniel had suffered through a lot more pain then I ever gave him credit for and much of it was pain that I inflicted upon him. That's when, under my breath, I added, "I'm sorry...little badger, for everything. I'll make this right, somehow."


	37. And Now We Wait

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 36: And Now We Wait

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Danny's POV

You know, I'm honestly not sure if it's because Vlad's the one acting as my doctor or because my sister was babying me in front of him, but for some reason I was feeling super self-conscious. Well, more than usual anyway. Still, I was kind of surprised to actually see for myself that Jazz seemed to trust Vlad. At least from what I could tell anyway so she wasn't faking it or anything. And besides, unlike before Jazz wasn't naive about what he was really capable of anymore so I have no doubt that she WOULD give him a taste of the Fenton Ghost Peeler if Vlad pulled anything shady. Reflexively, I became a little anxious when she started joking around with him about that, thinking he was going to get angry if it sounded like a real threat, but when Vlad didn't seem to mind and could tell it was just a joke I relaxed a bit and even tried joking around with him too to keep my mind off this stupid blood transfusion business.

Still, what Vlad forgot to warn me about was was how boring this was gonna be...

He already took my pulse and a blood sample earlier and was setting up the blood-bag when I noticed something weird about it. I rubbed my eyes, wondering if I was imagining it but when it didn't go away I turned to my sister and whispered, "Psst, Jazz, can you see that?"

Jazz seemed to be so off in her own little world that at first I thought she didn't hear me when finally she turned to me and replied, "See what Danny?"

While Vlad's back was turned I nodded towards the blood-bag while Vlad was working on the saline bag on other side -or I think that's what it's called- and continued, "There's something funny about that blood-bag. It's...glowing."

"Glowing...?" Jazz wondered, squinting her eyes to take a closer look herself. "I don't see anything Danny. Are you sure you're not imagining it?"

"Jazz, come on, I'm-" I began when Vlad -having heard every word with his ghost hearing because, duh, we both had it- he explained in that familiar know-it-all tone of his...

"Of course she can't see it Daniel, it's just the ecto-restorative I added. Normally you shouldn't be able to see it either but I had to increase the dosage this time. And right now you are hyper aware of anything resembling ecto-energy since your ghost half knows it needs it, just like when you know you need water when you're feeling thirsty. Think of this as a sort of...ectoplasmic supplement designed to kick start your healing abilities again and restore the equilibrium with your human half and your ghost core," glancing at my sister to make sure she was paying attention too, Vlad kept going, "I told you this earlier, but I have had to use this on myself before so it's perfectly safe. Took several years to develop it in such a way that it could be diluted but as you can see it was well worth the effort. Be glad you don't have to worry about it making your condition worse since I will be monitoring you for the next few hours and-"

"The next few hours?!" I gaped, pointing at Jazz, "Are you crazy? My sister still has school you fruitloop! What if they think she's gone missing too? What if our parents coming looking for her here?!"

"Danny! Danny..." Jazz called, drawing my attention back to her when I started getting worked up but we couldn't risk it! I love my sister but if letting her stay was going to cause problems then-! "Hey, look at me!" she said, clapping her hands to my cheeks and patting them, "Do you really think Vlad would have asked me over if that was the case? School's closed today so the Axion people can install their spare ghost shield and test it. I meant to tell you earlier but we got sidetracked. Valerie's dad is in charge of the whole thing since he's head of security too so he knows exactly what he's doing. Vlad even convinced mom and dad to go give them some pointers when it comes to ghost shields to prove to me they're serious about not running off and picking anymore ghost fights if they can help it. Now, take a deep breath and relax, everything's fine."

Still unconvinced I did as I was told but there was still an uncomfortable tightness in my chest so it took a few minutes for it to finally go away. When I glanced up though both Vlad and Jazz looked concerned so I blushed and mumbled, "Sorry..."

"It's fine Daniel," Vlad smiled, bringing the IV bag over and hooking me up to it and checking my pulse one last time before starting the drip. "I should have explained it to you earlier but as I said I had another urgent matter to attend to and assumed your sister would inform you about what's going on. By the way, thank you for calming him down Jasmine."

"He's my little brother," Jazz replied proudly, making me blush a little deeper, "Trust me, this is nothing. Try getting Danny up for school in the morning when he decides to go intangible so I can't shake him awake! Last time he did that I had to-"

"Jazz, shut it! I mean it!" I hissed, which only made them laugh harder at my expense. Crossing my arms, I glowered in their direction, thinking _Great, now both of the most annoying people in my life have teamed up to make fun of me, my own sister, and Vlad. I'm so totally screwed right now. Maybe I should just sleep through this after all instead of listening to these two talk about me like I'm not even here..._

Speaking of _'not being here'_ when they mentioned that school was out today I thought, _Wait a minute, if school really is out then why did Vlad say they couldn't come over? What the heck Vlad?_

"Hold on," I called over to Vlad who was in the middle of talking to Jazz about the whole _'Danny's not a morning person'_ thing. "If school's out today then...why did you tell me seeing my friends would be so hard? I might not get a chance like this again and they...sure I'm still kind of freaked by what I almost did but don't they deserve to know I'm ok now too?"

"Oh Danny..." Jazz began, giving me one of those worried looks while Vlad on the other hand looked kinda pissed actually. And it reflected in what he said next.

With his dark blue eyes narrowed and hands resting behind the small of his back, Vlad said in a no-nonsense tone, "Daniel, your sister has already informed them that you are still recovering and asked them to keep their distance to reflect on their actions. Whether they choose to believe that I'm serious about helping you is up to them, but, I will NOT risk them spurring yet another panic attack. You may seem alright now, however, the fact remains that you've been through what was likely the most traumatic experience of your natural life -aside from this alternate future business- and their carelessness directly resulted in delaying that recovery. I understand your need for closure but I can assure you that seeing them now would do more harm then good."

"And since when have you known what's best for me Vlad?" I challenged, resisting the sudden urge I had to give him a list of every jerky thing HE'S done to me compared to them. "Up until now you've never given ANY of us a reason to trust you, that includes Jazz, so why should Sam and Tucker be treated any different? You said I could see my sister right? Well, I've changed my mind and want to see my friends too because after this I might not get another chance! And I don't want to add not seeing them again to the list of things I'm going to regret for the rest of my life!"

I was still glaring at Vlad when Jazz put her hand on one of mine again and began harshly, "Danny, that's not fair. This isn't about who did what to you, it's about doing what's best for you now! Vlad's right. Even though they care about you too those two stepped over the line. I don't care if they didn't know it at the time but Danny...you were in a really dark place when they pulled that stunt and you might have...you might have tried to kill yourself again if Vlad hadn't protected them and calmed you down. What they did was VERY wrong Danny, there's no sugar coating it. Our parents nearly killed you and then your best friends practically turned their backs on you for making a choice they couldn't agree with. A long time ago I might have even agreed with them about being wary of Vlad knowing his...history..." she glanced unsurely at Vlad who nodded, accepting that fact which surprised me, then Jazz continued gravely, "That was before though, before I realized that like our parent they're too blind to see what's right in front of them. The fact is, Vlad saved your life Danny. He didn't have to, but he did, and if Vlad really hated you as much as our dad he would have left you to die out there in that storm. If Vlad wanted to use you or experiment on you, he would have had you spirited you away the moment you were within his grasp regardless of your condition and made sure none of us could get anywhere near you. And Vlad has more then enough experience and know-how to take care of your health needs as both human and half-ghost. And most of all Danny, if Vlad didn't care about you he never would have confronted our parents in person for your sake or mine when he could have easily gotten them arrested by anonymously letting someone find out they shot their son while thinking that you were supposedly possessed. If VLad didn't care about you then I wouldn't be here right now helping him make sure you get better, and if nothing else, trust ME when I say that dealing with Sam and Tucker is just going to have to wait."

"But that's...!" Another shiver ran up my spine when some of that weirdo-ecto-boosted-blood began entering my system but I shook my head and ignored that feeling since I had to make them understand why I needed to see my friends too!

Noticing my discomfort Vlad made some adjustments to slow the drip down since I was getting too worked up and sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he explained, "We've been over this Daniel. Look at you, you're already getting worked up again at the mere mention of those two! Enough is enough. As I explained to you before, multiple times I might add, Mr. Foley and Miss Manson are both still grounded until the end of the month. And if you think having your own sister here might look suspicious to any onlookers, imagine if you will what would happen if the now-former mayor suddenly invited two random teenagers to his home who were grounded BECAUSE they broke into his private property? Really now, I know you've been through a lot the past few days but you're smarter than this Daniel. If you're that concerned about telling them goodbye then I'm sure your sister would be more then happy to relay a message to them for you since she'll see them tomorrow at school anyway. As for you young man your time would be better spent focusing on your own well-being instead of everyone else's as I'm sure they'll survive without you for awhile with the new ghost shield installed at your school."

I...guess I couldn't argue with that but seriously? Why were both of them ganging up on me like this? Was it so wrong that I wanted to patch things up with my friends? Sure they were jerks to me but I really freaked them out when I went missing so I couldn't blame them for getting kind of upset. Still I...

My train of thought drifted when I felt another of those weird rushes of warmth pass through my system, but there was also this odd...twinge in my chest too. I couldn't tell if it was my heart or my ghost core that felt this way but the last thing I wanted was to give them another reason to act even more overprotective.

Once it passed I leaned further back into my pillows and shot them both an annoyed glare. "Fine, you win. This time. It's not like I stood a chance arguing against not one but two smart-alec's..."

Smiling at each other like a pair of idiots, Vlad and Jazz replied in unison, "Nope."

* * *

Vlad's POV

It was no surprise that Daniel was clearly very unhappy with us when we shot down his brilliant plan to invite those two poor excuses for friends over when their presence would only complicate everything again. At least Daniel couldn't accuse me of being too controlling since his sister openly agreed with me that seeing them at this junction was a bad idea and we took turns cutting him off at every angle whenever Daniel tried to get us to change our minds. Eventually, Daniel gave up which may also be a result of the side effects of the ecto-restorative making him feel ripples of energy pass through his system as it reenergized his ghost half in addition to the normal blood flushing out any traces of that awful infection.

I must admit we made a pretty good team and I'm glad Jasmine was on my side in all this since Daniel was more likely to listen to her advice then mine and accept it at face value. She was too honest for her own good really, yet when the need arose Jasmine could read people almost as well as myself which allowed her to turn the conversation in her favor. I could see now why Daniel might feel...inferior when always compared to that which is why I intended to take her advice to heart and praise and guide him rather then point out his flaws first. He was doing very well, and in fact was recovering much more quickly then I expected him to even with all the set backs. It was like night and day since the last time I was injured this badly -which yes only happened once in my early years after obtaining these powers- it took me well over a month to recover my strength. Then again, Daniel had my help to speed things along and he was a growing young man so really I shouldn't be surprised.

A comfortable silence fell about 45 minutes into the procedure and Daniel seemed to be drifting off unwillingly out of sheer boredom since he refused to look or speak to either his sister nor myself after we backed him into a corner during that argument about his friends. Outwardly, Jasmine seemed to be faring just fine but she did look a tad bit tired. Even so she gently pet her brother's hair despite him refusing to look at her yet before long Daniel's eyes drifted closed. Occasionally Daniel would shutter in his sleep and inhale sharply but it wasn't outright shivering which I for one took as a good sign. As for Jasmine I eventually convinced her to grab a book from the library if she was bored or help herself to some coffee. I hadn't had time to make breakfast this morning since I had stayed up almost the entire night myself and truth be told that was my 3rd coffee brew. At one point I bypassed getting a mug and drank the entire pot, which yes that's as uncivilized as it sounds but I obviously replaced the pot afterwards with a clean one before making the next batch.

Jasmine took me up on that offer and was kind enough to bring me a mug as well after searching the cupboards. I didn't mind since she had no reason to wander elsewhere when our primary focus was Daniel. I really hoped this would solve the problem we were presently facing, well, one of them at least because there was so much I wanted to do for Daniel and some of those preparations were well underway back at my castle.

Part of me was tempted to confide in Jasmine and ask for her advice regarding the next surprise I had in store for my little badger but then something made me hold back because...really I didn't want to share the credit for this gift. I wanted to build new memories with Daniel from now on that would some day make him forget all about the pain and suffering this town, his family, his friends, and even I've caused him. I'm sure Daniel wasn't going to have fond memories of my castle either even though it's been remodeled, for the 3rd time I might add, but with any luck what I had in store would change all that.

However, that like many things...would just have to wait. And although I was a patient man, I simply couldn't wait to see what expression Daniel made when he saw it. Speaking of which I neglected to give him the first of his belated birthday presents in my haste to call Jasmine over. I would just have to give it to him along with the others during the flight tomorrow or the next day depending on how well Daniel did during the transfusion. While Jasmine settled into the chair I normally sat in to keep a close eye on Daniel I checked his vitals again and so far everything looked normal. At least as normal as the vitals of a half-ghost could be but again, his normal would never be like a humans, not entirely which is why he was so fortunate to have me. Then again, perhaps I had it backwards and I was the fortunate one...

That thought made me pause and glance at Jasmine who glanced up from her book with a shy smile before returning to where she left off and taking her brother's limp hand in her own and lacing their fingers together, careful not to get tangled in the IV tube of course. I was almost taken aback by how...normal this felt. Almost as if I was a parent tending to their sick child, which to some extent was true since I saw Daniel as a son now more than ever. As for Jasmine, perhaps I was warming up to the idea of bringing her into the fold one day but for now the best thing I could do was ensure that she could safely complete her high school education and perhaps offer a scholarship so she wouldn't have to wait for acceptance. With her grades Jasmine could easily get into Harvard. Speaking of which, that was another thing that needed to be addressed. Daniel's education.

Checking to make sure Daniel was really asleep I decided to take a chance to ask Jasmine more about his personal life from her perspective before I made sure to get a recent copy of Daniel's records and start making lesson plans. Of course we'd have to wait until Daniel recovered and was emotionally stable enough to get instruction from a tutor but I was confident that without the usual distractions he would excel. And judging from the way Jasmine's eyes lit up the moment I made my first inquiry, she had just as much faith in her little brother as I did. Though perhaps I had so much more because not only would Daniel excel in school, but I would help his powers flourish so that this monster, this Dan character, would never pose a threat to anyone ever again.


	38. Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (06/17/2018):** Ok so I have good news and bad news, though the latter is bad for me since it's just one more thing to add to my _"the universe hates me lately"_ list since this past week my mom took a nasty spill and got hurt and then one of my teeth cracked and I had to get it pulled. Good news first, as you've probably already noticed I updated the cover artwork for this story using a brand new drawing of mine that I colored digitally. If you'd like to take a closer look at a bigger version of it there's a copy of it on my tumblr and deviantart account. Also, my best friend/beta reader commissioned Amethyst Ocean to draw another picture for me and while it's not ready yet I'm really excited for it! Bad news is that...well, here's the thing, I was working on this chapter and had at least an entire page worth done but then something freaky happened and I had to force shut down my laptop. As a result I completely lost everything I'd written because the file got corrupted. Afterwards I tried absolutely everything I could think of to recover it with no luck at all no matter how many methods I tried. That's why I was forced to completely start over from scratch and redo as much as I can from memory, which didn't go as well as I'd hoped past the first paragraph. This won't really effect you readers of course since you're already reading the end result, but as for me it still sucks that I lost all that hard work...

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Chapter 37: Parting Is Such Sweet Sorrow

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Danny's POV

So you know that feeling when you first wake up and nothing really sinks in right away? Like, you look at something but it doesn't seem real so you think you're still dreaming? Yeah that's what I felt when I woke up and heard Jazz and Vlad talking about their favorite subject, me...

It was totally bizarre actually seeing them together like that, having a normal conversation. That's why I had to do a double-take before prying my eyes away from them to reorient myself. Not that it helped much since I still felt like something was...off. For one thing I still felt uncomfortably cold, the kind of cold you feel after taking a nice hot shower then stepping out into the cold air outside. That odd tightness in my chest hadn't gone away either, but that could just be a anxiety thing so I decided to take a few deep breaths and try to ignore it. I was kinda hungry too which was probably a good sign because, while I was mostly joking about the cake thing I was secretly hoping Vlad might let it slide if I told him I was feeling better. And compared to before I did.

Speaking of time I wondered, _Hey wait, just how long HAVE I been out anyway...?_

Glancing over at the blood-bag I groaned when I saw it was only little more then halfway gone. Well crud, this was taking forever so no wonder I nodded off! Guess that's what happens when you refuse to talk to the only two people in the room during a stupid-long medical procedure like this, you get SO bored that sleeping is infinitely more entertaining.

But it wasn't just that. Seeing Jazz again after everything that's happened treat me the same as always felt like such huge a relief. So despite me being the one with powers, I felt more at ease having my sister around. Not that I'd ever admit that to her face. And, I dunno if it was because Jazz didn't seem to mind being left alone with him or what but I was starting to feel a bit better about trusting Vlad. Oh but I DEFINITELY wasn't going to tell him that! Because then Vlad might get the wrong idea about us and start acting all weirdly happy and mushy about it. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't happy about him or my sister telling me I couldn't see my friends, but as much as I hated to admit it I guess they had a point. I came to the same conclusion myself before changing my mind but I just...didn't want to leave things like this between us without at least saying goodbye. I didn't want to risk making them feel like I really had abandoned them. But I wasn't abandoning anyone. Someday, I'll come back home and fix things between us, between them AND my parents...

Won't I...?

"Ah good, you're finally awake Daniel," Vlad called out of the blue, startling me. "How're you feeling my boy? Any better?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm uh...fine I guess," I answered hastily, tensing when my sister gave me a long meaningful look like she already knew that answer was a load of bull.

Glancing at my sister's expression then back over at me, Vlad shook his head in disappointment and casually strode over with the snide remark of, "Daniel you really are a terrible liar. We can both tell that you are still feeling uncomfortable, which is perfectly normal. Still, even my keen observations can only tell me so much so I'd appreciate it if you told me how you REALLY feel and if you're still having the same symptoms as before, or else I'll have to reexamine you myself and I doubt you want-"

"Alright fine," I sighed, watching him check the drip warily while deciding how much to tell him. "Looks like your weirdo-blood isn't working because I still feel cold and my chest feels tight, it doesn't hurt but it's just hard to breath. That's just an anxiety thing though right? Once this is over it'll...go away?"

I hesitated saying that because Vlad's own words from that alternate future then echoed in my mind from when he created Dan and explained, " _All you wanted was to make the hurt go away."_

They noticed my hesitation but thankfully didn't say anything about it, or at least Jazz didn't and just came back over to hold my hand. "That's right Danny, you're going to be ok. Vlad says you're doing great so far so whether it's a ghost power issue or some left over anxiety I'm sure you'll feel better soon which will help. It might take awhile for the chills to stop though. According to Vlad cold-cores are actually pretty rare among ghosts so your body just needs time to adapt but with everything else going on it hasn't had a chance to since you nearly died."

"I guess that makes sen-! Wait, ghosts with cold cores are rare? I didn't know that. I don't even know what having one even means besides how crappy it's making me feel," I wondered, looking over at Vlad again who didn't even bother hiding a smirk this time.

"Indeed they are. Although I was under the impression that your abominable friend Frostbite would have given you your first clue my boy. In all your ventures into the Ghost Zone, how often have you encountered a ghost with ice powers? Answer, not many because even I've only encountered a select few in the 20 years I've had powers and can now count you among them," it sounded like Vlad was going to keep talking but then he flashed me this odd look before glancing at my sister again who didn't look like she was following the subject very well and I guess Vlad decided to leave it at that for now. Ugh but now he'd gotten me all curious!

Stupid fruitloop...

* * *

I was talking to my sister about something after Vlad excused himself to get us something to eat after I caved and told him I was hungry too before my stomach could give me away when her phone started buzzing in her purse. She took a glance at the caller ID from inside her purse so I couldn't see it but I could tell when her smile faltered that it was someone she didn't want to talk to. Wondering who it was I was about to ask when two things happened, Vlad opened the door and the instant it did Jazz hastily said she had to take the call and all but fled out of the room. Well that was weird, why would she...

Oh.

 _Its...probably our parents, isn't it?_ I wondered, feeling my chest tighten again. I thought the feeling would fade once I stopped thinking about who might be calling her but instead, it throbbed and I couldn't help but gasp at the sudden wave of pain.

Vlad of course noticed this right away and walked over to me again after setting the tray down -geez deja-vu much?- to check up on me.

"Daniel, what's wrong? Are you still having chest pain?" Vlad asked, not bothering to mask his concern.

Since I didn't want Vlad getting mad at me again for lying about how I really felt I reached up to my chest and nodded, "Yeah. But it's not necessarily painful, just annoying..." _If I tell him it is painful Vlad's only going to baby me more._ "Anyways whats with you acting all reluctant to talk about ghost stuff in front of Jazz? Especially when it's about the two of us. I can get you not wanting to tell her too much about yourself but it's not like Jazz doesn't already know a bunch of stuff about my powers already. Are you trying to hide something from us? Or...is there something else wrong with me and you just-"

"That's not it at all," Vlad cut me off, his gaze drifting downwards to meet mine with that oddly defensive look in his eyes. "Jasmine and I discussed a few things while you were resting and yes I agree that she's a smart young lady, but there are things about you that even she will never truly understand about the two of us and our status as hybrids. I'm sure it's the same applies to the current situation with Mr. Foley and Miss Manson. However that's not why I was reluctant to discuss the problem with your ghost core in further detail in her presence..." leaning against the wall beside the head of my bed, to my surprise Vlad admitted, "The truth is Daniel that for all of my spying there are things about you even I do not know or haven't learned until recently. But I never could have foreseen things escalating as they have and it's important for us to tread carefully. I didn't want to give either of you the wrong impression that I hold all the answers even though we're both hybrids. There are many things I still don't know. And as alike as we are you are also very different...very different indeed. That's why while we have a moment to ourselves I wanted to tell you something I've decided recently."

Curious, I asked, "Ok? What is it?"

"I know this is asking a lot considering our complicated past, but, I was hoping you'd agree to letting me perform a full physical examination of your ghost half later this evening. I've already decided to destroy all the information I previously collected to create those clones and I'd like to make a fresh start with you since what happened recently was nearly fatal and we can't afford to be caught off guard like this again. It will take some time, but I plan to destroy as much of your personal inform as I can afford to until I can update the rest of your medical information to include these...recent developments."

I blinked, "Wait, are you-? No way, are you...serious about this?"

Rolling his eyes, Vlad replied with a huff, "Of course I'm serious! I was just unsure about whether or not your sister knew about any of that so I didn't want to give her another reason to mistrust me. She may act like it but I can tell you both have your reservations about me which is understandable I suppose. At any rate, that information is clearly outdated and if I plan to take care of you from now on I'll need your current energy readings once your core has adapted as well as measurements, heart rate, wieght, and so forth because while you are making great strides towards a full recovery this core business proves that we cannot afford to be complacent since your powers are as unpredictable as ever. I should have expected as much given how you're still developing in other ways which means it's translating to your other half as well and Jasmine doesn't need to know THAT much now does she? As long as her brother is maturing at a normal rate as both a human and a hybrid that's all that matters..." Shifting his gaze towards the door Vlad wondered, "I wonder if everything is alright, she should have been back by now."

Following his gaze I nodded, "Yeah you're right. I wonder who called her? She kinda tried to hide the caller ID from me so I'm guessing it's either one of my friends or...our parents..."

I grimaced when my voice cracked a little from even mentioning my parents but...Jazz told me they were still trying to find me, aka the ghost boy, although at least they've stopped attacking random ghosts for now which was something at least. Still, if they were planning on reopening the Fenton ghost portal I was worried about them and more importantly that the same old enemies that I always fought were going to cause even more problems now that I wasn't in the picture. Aw man, now I really didn't want to leave but who knows, maybe without their favorite _'prey'_ around to quote Skulker maybe they'd get bored faster and go back to the Ghost Zone. Yeah like THAT would EVER happen but a guy can dream and besides, I'm sure between Sam, Tucker, Val, my parents, heck even those stupid Guys In White could handle things for a while and I could focus on getting better and sneaking off to find Clockwork before Vlad found out who Dan really was...

I felt a hand come to rest on my shoulder, looking up to see Vlad smiling at me sadly and it just looked...so familiar. Was this another freaky shared memory from when Dan was still Danny Fenton and Vlad took us in? I wasn't sure but decided to at least try to smile back and tell him I was fine when-

We both looked up when the door opened and Jazz walked in, holding her phone loosely in one hand before her worried eyes fell on me and I tensed. Crap was everything ok? Were our parents hurt? Was there another ghost attack while they were helping Val's dad install the ghost shield in the best spot? A million questions seemed to burn at the tip of my tongue but I was so tense that forming words was impossible. Vlad and Jazz both noticed me freeze up and Vlad specifically sent another wave of energy through the shoulder he was holding and I couldn't help but loosen up at least a little since the warmth felt so good.

"Danny, before you freak out too much it's ok, our parents are fine," Jazz finally explained, her own voice shaking a bit. "They just...want to give me some _'protective gear'_ before the school reopens even though I already have the usual stuff. Not that they know that they're just...worried about me and didn't want the ghost boy to _'kidnap'_ me too. I better go humor them before they lock me up in the Fenton Stockades for my own protection."

Vlad blinked, "The Fenton...what?"

"Oh it's uh..." I shot Jazz a nervous look before explaining to Vlad, "...you know how my dad is descended from ghost hunters like the ancestor you tricked into trying to stop me by using those freaky anti-ghost flowers when the townsfolk of Salem tried to burn Sam at the stake during the Infimap incident? Well my dad isn't usually into history or old technology but years ago he decided to really get into our family history and recreated a bunch of medieval weapons and armor to see if any of it could help with their current work. I'm surprised you never found that room while snooping around the house honestly. Then again no one would think to look for it below the garage. I thought it'd make a good haunted house room one Halloween but nearly got my head chopped off by a swinging blade! No wait that's when I borrowed the Fright Knight's sword, nevermind! Anyway it's a really creepy room that looks like a medieval dungeon and our parents nearly locked us up in there one time when Ember made her debut and Jazz and I were both under some spell..." I blushed a little remembering how gaga I was over Sam because of Ember's spell or hypnosis or whatever and Jazz did too but because she had full out cosplayed as Ember and snuck out to her concert.

Jazz looked like she felt a little better and stifled a laugh remembering that too and added, "Yeah that wasn't one of my shining moments, thanks for letting the world know Danny!"

"Of course," I grinned, though both our faces fell when we realized she had to leave soon so I asked, "Hey Jazz? Once Vlad makes a secure channel or whatever, I'll call you alright? And just...let Sam and Tucker know I don't hate them, I know they were just worried about me but it was too much to deal with and..."

Vlad stepped aside when my sister came back over, smiling tearfully again, "I know. I'll let them know. And don't worry, everything is going to work out somehow. We just have to keep doing what we can and Danny, promise me you'll let Vlad help you when you seriously need it. Don't try acting all tough! Tell him how you feel whether it's angry or reserved, because bottling it up will only hurt you more then anyone else. And I mean everything Danny, when you're ready I think Vlad deserves to know the truth about you-know-who. He's already done so much for you and this time it wasn't to get anything out of it, or at least not what he normally would try to get, Vlad saved you because he cares and I'm sure he'll continue to take care of you as long as you let him. So if nothing else, you make sure to take care of yourself and keep this guy in line for me will you? If Vlad pulls something I'm going to have words with him about it!"

"I wouldn't have it any other way Jasmine," Vlad chimed in, "And if you would be so kind as to do the same with your parents as much as possible it would mean a great deal to your brother. However, do not push yourself too hard either and focus on your studies. Should the need arise though I want you to call me immediately regardless of the hour if anything happens or one of you is seriously injured by a ghost because I will make them suffer on your behalf. I'll also cover any medical expenses."

Jazz nodded and then with one more of those longing yet motherly looks of hers, she kissed my forehead and whispered, "I love you little brother and I promise I'll be ok so don't worry about me. Just get better soon and behave yourself alright? Don't do anything reckless."

"I...love you too Jazz. And I promise, somehow I'll find a way to fix this and come home. I promise..." reaching up, I wrapped my arms around her neck and gave my sister as tight of a hug as I could manage because the truth was...I didn't want her to leave. I wanted my sister to stay with us and watch my back the way she always has since we were kids. Part of me was still scared of being left alone with Vlad knowing that somehow Dan was lurking in the shadows trying to push me over the edge, even if he might do the whole humanity purge to save me, I refused to be the reason the world fell apart just because I couldn't handle it when my own world fell apart.


	39. Old Wounds

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 38: Old Wounds

 _(Chapter inspired by Save Yourself by My Darkest Days)_

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Vlad's POV

It was heartbreaking to see that look of loneliness and doubt flit across Daniel's face the moment he reluctantly released his sister from their embrace. I offered to escort her to the front door but Jasmine insisted that she knew the way out so with a small wave she gave Daniel and I another soft smile then slowly shut the door behind her. The room fell eerily silent after that because even I found myself unable to come up with anything to say that would lift Daniel's spirits.

I knew he still had his reservations about me, especially after his sister and I both shot down his ridiculous plan to confront his friends. Daniel just didn't seem to realize that with how emotional he was right now, seeing them would almost certainly cause more problems then it would solve. Besides, I was already used to being seen as the _'villain'_ in his eyes so for the most part his annoyed demeanor didn't phase me in the least, although that didn't stop me from continuing to worry about Daniel's mental stability.

As the silence wore on I decided to do something about it by bringing Daniel the food I brought in earlier so he could start eating. It wasn't anything extravagant this time, just an egg-salad sandwich since it was easy to make but packed with protein and some apple slices. I set the tray in front of him but Daniel seemed to be off in his own little world now that his sister was gone and he didn't have to act like he was doing better then he actually was. At this point I knew coddling the boy wasn't going to do him any good, meaning if I wanted to get any reaction out of Daniel I would have to push the right buttons.

And given how stubborn he was, it shouldn't be too difficult...

"Daniel, look at me," I told him firmly, waiting until he finally did so before pushing the tray towards him. "Jasmine is going to be just fine. She's a smart and capable young woman and she has at least two more years worth of experience handling your parents than you do. And while it's not my top priority right now, I will be sure to arrange a way for you to communicate with your sister once things settle down. For now though, you have to eat something."

"M'not hungry," Daniel muttered in a decidedly depressed tone.

"Of course not, but even so you still need the nutrients," I frowned, "Just humor me. I know you feel lonely without your sister already, but Jasmine would be upset if she heard you weren't eating. She has enough on her plate dealing with your parents. Don't make things more difficult by making me have to go ask her to come back after just barely managing to pry herself away. I'm sure Jasmine didn't want to leave any more than you wanted her to. But trust me, this is all for the best since you need to focus on taking care of yourself for once."

Scowling, Daniel snapped, "Oh yeah? Well maybe I wouldn't be so lonely if you'd let me talk to my friends! Seriously I can't believe you and Jazz ganged up on me like that! What ever happened to giving me a choice? Oh that's right, I never HAD a choice! After all the moment I do something that becomes an inconvenience to you you just step in and...take over as usual."

"Honestly now..." I huffed, trying not to let Daniel's anger get to me. "What part of I'm trying to help you is so difficult for you to understand? Do you STILL think this is all just an act? That I was only placating your sister? Well then I have news for you Daniel, the ONLY thing I'm after right now...is the truth. I want to know if you're recovering properly; I want to know how you really feel; and I want to know who you are so I can help you succeed and rise above this tragedy. It's all I've ever wanted! To spare you the SAME SUFFERING I WENT THROUGH!" Near the end I couldn't help but let a little of my frustration slip through, but when Daniel flinched away from me I managed to reign myself in and cleared my throat before continuing in a more business-like tone, "The point is, this situation is far more complex then even you realize, both with your current living situation and your health. Because unlike normal people, you have to worry about making sure TWO sides of yourself are stable since they deeply effect each other whether you're transformed or not. Surely you've figured that out by now? You may not use them as much in human form but your powers...they're part of you and can never be _'turned off'_ as it were. At least not without killing you or causing permanent damage. I told you this once before Daniel, you have no idea how LUCKY you are that I am so well-equipped to deal with most of the problems you are facing! Just imagine if I hadn't pulled the shards of that bullet out, you'd have died from the shock alone! And it is because I have all this experience as the first hybrid that I was able to save your life. I'm the only reason you'll be able to walk away from this with only two scars! Not many can say that. In fact, the truth of the matter is that no one aside from us can. We are the only two people like this, Daniel. Now, I'm going to go get what I need for the medical exam but I expect this sandwich to be gone by the time I get back. Do I make myself clear? And if it is not then I'm afraid I'll either have to revoke your TV privileges or I WILL overshadow you and MAKE you eat. I know you can eat on your own now though so don't even try to weasel your way out of this. And we both know how much you hate wearing these IV tubes so imagine having to wear one 24/7 again? But there's always that option too if you refuse to cooperate."

"You're bluffing-" Daniel argued with a mixture of his usual stubbornness and a twinge of fear.

Stepping away from the bed and glancing over my shoulder, I mirrored the condescending tone I used the day I showed him my true form and replied, "On the contrary little badger, you forget that while you are in my care and under MY roof and I can do whatever I deem necessary to keep you in good health. I've been lenient so far in the hopes of proving the sincerity of my actions -and I'd rather you not force me back into the role of the villain here- but if THAT is what it takes to get you healthy again then so be it. Think what you will of me Daniel, because in the end that doesn't change the fact that I still care for you and will continue to do what I think is best for you. We're not related to by blood, it's true, but I think that being the only two half-ghosts in the world ultimately makes us closer then anyone _'alive'_ dear boy. I truly think it's about time you understood that. The fact is, without me you WOULD have died. Even by the off chance that your parents realized their error and tried to correct it that wouldn't have done you any good because they know so little about ghosts compared to us because of the fact that we ourselves have ghost DNA. You may not approve of my methods, and I dare say even your sister expressed her concerns, but unlike your parents I actually DO know what is best for you in this instance. So seeing your friends? I know for a fact that that will only raise your anxiety levels once the hurt and betrayal you still feel towards them all comes rushing back, which is even more dangerous now with your core acting up then it was when you had that last outburst. I told them before they left that I would be the one who decides if they are allowed to speak to you again, not you, not even your sister because I've seen this happen twice already when you tried to destroy yourself. This is a family matter Daniel. There will come a time when you'll be ready to attend to your friends, and by then I'll probably allow it. But now is not that time. And before you spout any nonsense about me not being part of your family remember this." Closing my eyes I delivered the finishing blow by concluding somberly, "As much as it pains me to remind you, the only reason you are in this mess is because of your parents. Unintentional or not they betrayed you, wounded you, and left scars that even I will likely find difficult to mend. Instead of using what transpired against you once I discovered the seriousness of your plight I took it upon myself to see to it that they could not cause any further harm to you or themselves while they continue to search recklessly for their lost son. I have even offered top of the line ghost shield technology to the general public that ordinarily I would never share with anyone. So what MORE do you want from me before I ask for something in return like you expect me to do even when you have nothing left to offer me but your very life and future? If this was like before we both know beyond the shadow of a doubt that I would ask once and for all that you become my son and renounce your father, but that is not the case here. All I ask in return this time is that you ALLOW me to help you get better, which does nothing to benefit me except the fact that I...I don't have to be alone anymore. We're two of a kind Daniel. Meaning that if I don't look out for you in the ways that your own family and friends cannot, then tell me, who can...?"

* * *

Danny's POV

I knew Vlad was right, about all of it.

But still, because Vlad was the one saying it I was having a hard time accepting it just as much as before. Vlad wasn't supposed to _'save me.'_ He wasn't supposed to be someone I could ever trust or ask for help. No, Vlad has always been the bad guy to me yet here we were, and right now he was acting so much like...like a real father scolding their child...

It reminded me of how many times my own dad scolded me, but the difference here was Vlad actually DID understand my side of things too and that at least for a few things I had a legitimate reason to feel this way about him. At least Vlad actually WANTED me to explain myself in detail, to tell him exactly how I feel where with my dad yeah he would ask for an explanation and then seconds later turn around and tell me he'd had enough of my sass when I barely managed to get two words out to defend myself! Like that time I'd been playing too much Doom and got in trouble with Mr. Lancer when he caught me at a computer cafe instead of studying like he told me to since I'd been falling asleep in class. Shortly after Tucker had tried to call me when he discovered that Technus had invaded the game and my dad screamed at him, telling him I was busy and then crushed my cell phone into tiny metal bits.

Even I thought that was a bit extreme because didn't he ever get sucked into a game and goofed off instead of study? Mom wasn't as...intense when she was mad but she was really good at pointing out everything I was doing wrong. It was neither of them really believed that I was under a lot of pressure not only from school but also secretly fighting all the ghosts that their stupid ghost portal released every night on top of that! They thought I was making up excuses. Admittedly maybe I was to some extent but I was still a kid so what was so wrong about that? Part of the reason I even got sucked into the game was because I had been wanting to play some Doom for awhile and had this brilliant idea where I'd try watching the portal directly from downstairs in the lab itself so I could capture and put any ghosts that came through it right back in instead of wasting time tracking them all over town the moment I woke up because of my ghost sense and I didn't want to sit there bored to tears sitting there staring at a door for hours on end.

I was so upset and angry about the injustice of it all that I didn't even notice that Vlad had already left. Well, that was probably a good thing since I needed a minute to calm down again and gather my thoughts before I talked to him again. As for the food, more because I actually was hungry and not worried about his so-called _'threat'_ I took big angry bites out of it then left the apple slices alone since they had turned a bit brown anyway from being out too long. Not that I could really taste any of it since I ate it in under a minute.

As for telling Vlad how I felt health-wise, I took a moment to really think about how it because I was surprised that besides being irritated admittedly I was feeling more energetic then before. Sure I was emotionally tapped out and still cold, but all things considered I was starting to feel...almost normal again. My chest stopped hurting too which helped although it was still a little hard to breath since I was so worked up. I probably ate too fast too though because my stomach felt kinda unsettled so with a sigh I took a drink of the milk Vlad brought to wash down the sandwich to see if that helped. Thankfully it did and after that I tried putting some serious thought into what Vlad just told me because despite him being right about a lot of it as expected he brought up the same old stuff about wanting me as his son and assuming he knew what was best for me just because we're the only two halfa's.

But the thing is...this time I believed him because the fact that I felt this normal after nearly dying a week ago was insane. I just I didn't want to accept it because it meant accepting everything that's happened and face the reality that soon I'd have to willingly leave everything I've ever known behind to live with my former arch enemy. The moment I saw my human half bleeding that terrible night, I knew that staying here wasn't an option because of the danger I was in. But that didn't stop me from feeling trapped...

That was it wasn't it? The biggest problem with this situation and Vlad was how trapped I felt being here with him. I couldn't even go outside for a breath of fresh air which was part of why I felt so smothered. I know that he was only trying to help me before by asking the Fright Knight to watch me when I went all catatonic after my encounter with Dan but-

My heart throbbed at the mere thought of him and I flinched, especially after recalling what he said about _'freedom'_ and us _'both'_ wanting it. And the thing is, the thing that makes it even scarier, was that Dan was right about that too. I felt so isolated and wished I had some way to channel all of this anger and frustration in a way that wasn't directed at Vlad or my friends. I needed to DO something, anything just to release all of these pent up emotions before I tried doing something I know I'd regret.

Either way, as much as I hated to admit it Vlad was also right and I needed to stop holding back how I really felt about him and all of this because it was eating me up inside. Especially the part where I wanted so badly to believe that this Vlad could care about me as much as his alternate future self had, the version of him that regretted his mistakes as much as I did. And I'm sure that deep down my parents did regret the accident that gave Vlad his powers even if they don't know anything about that part. Even I know they're not perfect. I just never wanted to tell Vlad about any of that because of what he's doing now, pointing out how much ' _better'_ he is for me as a father figure. But even though my dad shot me, and I was scared of facing them again after something like that, I still wish I could go back in time and be back home to them instead of being here.

Because being here meant...I'd lost them a second time.

* * *

When Vlad finally came back I was surprised when he didn't react to the fact that I left the apple slices and nonchalantly moved the tray and asked me to sit up so he could begin examining me. I was a bit unnerved by the way he was acting but figured that Vlad just wanted to get this over with as much as I did so I nodded and obediently sat up. And since I'd been complaining about chest pain Vlad decided to check that first and had me take in several deep breaths while listening to my lungs for anything unusual. I shivered when my ghost sense went off right before he started but that was because Vlad decided to warm the stethoscope with a little bit of his ecto-energy to make it more comfortable for me.

I was kinda surprised Vlad was still trying to be nice even though he was clearly trying to hide the fact that he was still upset at me for acting the way I did. I couldn't blame him. Too bad the stethoscope didn't even stay warm for very long though since my body was still self-generating cold energy while my core was still stabilizing I guess. After that Vlad checked my blood pressure and while he wasn't wearing a trench coat or anything I couldn't help but try to picture Vlad as a real doctor. It didn't suit him at all so I decided to break the silence by pointing that out.

"Hey Vlad? You said you originally wanted to be a doctor right? Well I have to say I'm having a hard time picturing you giving people shots and handing kids lollipops," I actually smirked a little when Vlad finally made a disgusted face and corrected me.

"Heavens no Daniel, I never had any intentions of becoming a Pediatrician. You're mistaking the sort of doctor I planned on becoming. In college was studying human genetics, not aiming for a career in the medical field. Although I suppose genetics do play a part of that since they study different ways to cure cancer or to discover better medical techniques for organ transplants and such. Of course that all changed once I became involved with your parents and grew interested in the unique properties of ectoplasm and these beings made of it we call ghosts," settling back into his business-like tone Vlad asked, "Alright I'm almost done, just tell me if it starts to get too tight."

With a sigh I nodded since Vlad hadn't take the bait when I tried to get him to loosen up a bit so that I could too, which was making me nervous again. I wanted to wait until he was finished before saying anything but after what happened earlier I felt guilty for giving Vlad such a hard time once I realized that even for someone like him this hasn't been easy either. For days he had to deal with my fits of delirium, frantic calls from my parents, the accusing glares of my friends, and then on top of that Vlad had to put up with my other emotional outbursts and my out of control powers. So yeah, I owed him my life, but the reason I was having a hard time thanking him for that was because I didn't want to feel indebted to someone like him. Our past was still a big part of this weird relationship we had so even if things have changed a little bit...what we've done to each other during the last few months hasn't. And this time I was just as in the wrong as he was for taking things too far.

As soon as the pressure left my arm from the pressure gauge it almost seemed like the pressure on my heart released too and I finally muttered, "I'm sorry..."

Without looking at me while writing down my blood pressure Vlad replied curtly, "Sorry about what little badger?"

A little annoyed that Vlad was being just as stubborn as I was I replied, "I'm sorry about the way I've been acting since Jazz left. It's just been one thing after another which has me on edge and I guess I took it out on you as usual. This whole thing with you, my parents, my friends, and...Dan, I haven't really had time to think about any thing else but making it through each day without losing my mind. But the truth is Vlad...I feel trapped in this room, in this house. And I know part of the reason for that is because you don't want me to get sick again or for my parents to find me but I really feel like I have nowhere else to go where I can be by myself and think things through without you hovering over me all the time. And everywhere I look I'm reminded that I'm not welcome at my own home anymore. Even though you and Jazz brought me as much of my stuff as you could to help me feel better, none of this feels right, especially the part about living with you..." gripping my left shoulder and running my thumb over where the gunshot wound was I took a deep breath and forced myself to continue, "It's like you said though, this isn't like all those other times I've come to you or you came to see me. You're not my enemy and I'm...not a hero anymore. I'm just some kid who needs help getting out of a bad situation that accidental or not has messed me up pretty good. I mean, I knew from the beginning that this hero thing I was doing wasn't some game and I was willingly putting myself in constant danger, but at least before all this I was confident enough in my abilities to get away before my parents could hurt me and strong enough to defeat whatever ghost was on the loose before it could kill me or hurt someone I care about. It was always different with you though. Whenever we fought I never held back, I threw everything I had at you and never even realized that unconsciously...I was treating you like every other ghost I took my frustration out on even though you're part human too and as twisted as you are you have feelings too. Part of me knew that wasn't fair, but at the same time you were always picking a fight with me and telling me how weak and worthless I was so it felt justified at least and I did everything in my power to prove you wrong. But now I feel...so alone even with you standing right here beside me because I still don't feel like I can trust you sometimes when you start acting all quiet or suspicious. My friends, my family, they're out there right now and able to keep living their lives even with all these ghosts around. And where am I? I'm staying with the guy who hates my father, loves my mother, and has beaten the crap out of me more times then I can count while constantly telling me to drop this hero act and do something for myself for once, which coming from you just sounds selfish so I do the exact opposite and spread myself too thin. All this time I ignored you because I really thought I was making a difference by sacrificing even the things I used to take for granted like just having the time to hang out with my friends and being able to sleep through the night without some ghost showing up. Only now, when I have no choice but to rely on the guy who used to mock and ridicule me for doing all that without complaint, I realize just how powerless I really am and I hate it because then it sounds like you were right about me all along. No matter how hard I try, for me, all it takes is one screw up to destroy any hope I had for a better future! One that doesn't involve losing everything care about like Dan did! I didn't want to trade my friends and family for someone like you who -whether I like it or not- really IS the only one who will ever understand that I'm more then just a half-ghost and see me for who I am. I'm not just a ghost! I'm not an _'it'_! I have feelings, but to tell you the truth most of the time I don't want to share them with you because I keep thinking you'll just twist my words or make fun of me. I feel pain, but I tell everyone it doesn't hurt or it's just a scratch when in reality I want to scream. And most of all I'm...just a kid, a human like everyone else with plans of my own for who and what I want to be. They've known me almost their entire lives but Sam and Tucker are still clueless about a lot of things, yet they call ME the clueless one. Sam is always telling me how _'unique is good'_ when she actually has no idea what being a half-ghost freak feels like when your body keeps doing weird things and how scary it was having to hide it from my own ghost hunting parents when every new invention they made went off when I was in the same room! And Tucker, he's my best friend, but he always gets jealous whenever I show off a new power so I feel like I can't even use them in front of them anymore outside of ghost fighting. Then there's the fact that my own sister tells me how I shouldn't _'cheat'_ my way through the difficult parts of life when she doesn't have to worry about Dash bullying her and getting stuffed in a locker whenever that lame-brain gets a bad score on a test, a test I WISH I could have studied for instead of fighting ghosts all night. I feel like I don't have any freedom or privacy at all and I don't know what to do about it. And even though I know the reason why we have to I don't want to abandon the only place I've ever called home and the people I endured all that to protect. But I know that I don't have a choice. I never did. The universe keeps pushing us together just like that other timeline did and it scares me because...the last time we we were this close, I destroyed your future too. And no matter how bad things have gotten between us, that's a fate I'd never wish on you either Vlad, seeing you lose the one thing besides me that keeps you human. We can't erase our past, but I hate feeling like I have to put my future in your hands again when I don't know if it'll fall apart again no matter what we do..."


	40. Famous Last Words

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (06/28/2018):** To my recent Guest reviewer, yeah even I'll admit that the previous chapter was VERY dialogue heavy. But it was an important moment of growth in their relationship by letting them get it all out there and vent some of their true feelings. Especially Danny, meanwhile Vlad had to put his foot down again and tell Danny for the umpteenth time that he's just trying to help and use the sad fact that Danny still sees him as the _'villain'_ to make sure he knew Vlad wasn't messing around when it comes to get him healthy. Anyways I've had something very action packed in the works for awhile now but I kept having to split the chapters to address other issues or the chapters became too long. The previous chapter has 8 full pages worth in it, however, I think now that our two boys have voiced their grievances I can finally dive into that. So yeah I know the previous chapter was mainly just Vlad and Danny arguing, but this one has something special planned I promise! And with that, I hope you enjoy and thank you to those who reviewed the last chapter and welcome to any new story followers!

 **P.S.** Oh and one more thing, I'll be skipping ahead a bit and glossing over a few things because I think we're all dying to get them out of Amity Park to where the real fun will begin. Hope you guys don't mind!

* * *

Chapter 39: Famous Last Words

* * *

Vlad's POV

When Daniel finished venting as well I couldn't help but recall the advice that the Fright Knight had given me before he returned to the Ghost Zone, _"...you should know that the ghost boy also fears '_ confinement' _or '_ lack of freedom' _so if he is well enough tonight I would suggest allowing him some fresh air. He is a free spirited youth after all."_ I planned to do this sooner but Daniel's condition wouldn't allow it. Now however, aside from having high blood pressure due to anxiety I was relieved to find that Daniel was recovering at a normal pace. Normal for us anyway.

It also helped that Daniel himself finally admitted feeling trapped which is perfectly normal in a situation like this that had very little to do with me. Whenever you are recovering from an illness or injury it's normal to feel anxious the longer you are confined to a single space. I would know that better then anyone given how I spent years confined to a hospital room. So to that extent I sympathized with Daniel, more then he could possibly imagine. A lot of what Daniel was feeling was natural and as he said _'justified'_ which to me actually came as a relief...

Because if the majority of his fears were centered around his uncertainty about the future, feeling confined and as though he didn't have the freedom to go where he pleased or take ownership of his living space with me, and that I was going to go back to treating him poorly like before I could work with that. And a lot of this could be taken care of at least as far as freedom was concerned once we left Amity Park. The sooner the better I'd say so that's when I decided to make a few calls to see how the last minute additions were coming along in the castle's renovations. Well I say renovations when really it had been rebuilt from scratch after the Guys in White trashed it. Daniel was at fault for that too but in a way this turned out to be a blessing in disguise since I could maximize the use of space to best suit both our needs since we would be living together from now on and could use a fresh start living in a new castle even if the location itself hadn't changed.

Setting the stethoscope and blood pressure gauge aside, I looked at Daniel who was clearly waiting for my response and as tempted as I was to smile I kept my expression carefully blank and told him, "Thank you for finally being honest with me Daniel. And you're quite right, we can't erase our past, but I do hope we can continue taking steps to pave the way for a better future together. It may surprise you to know that what you're feeling, it's normal. This time it's not irrational at all to feel as restless and frustrated as you presently do from being confined to a single space for so long. I felt much the same way when I was confined to a hospital bed for years and had to constantly hide my powers from the doctors and nurses in charge of me, much like you did at home and school. I understand, more than you can even imagine, exactly what you're going through right now. Or at least I can relate to some extent. Although to be fair I didn't have any ghostly enemies like you do to contend with which is why it was so easy for me to become as powerful as I am today from constant training and study about my newfound nature as a half-ghost hybrid. Back then, ghosts did not have any other way to reach our world aside from the temporary natural portals that are scattered all over the world. But the chances of a ghost finding one in time that even led to this time period was even less likely so in reality the only reason there's more ghost activity now is because there exists at least two stable portals, or four actually if you count the two I have here in my home and the damaged one from the last time my castle exploded and I tried to steal yours. Ah such fond memories," I joked mildly before continuing, "Speaking of ghost activity, I have a question for you my boy once I finish taking your measurements. Would you mind standing up and removing your shirt?"

Blushing like a school girl Daniel exclaimed, "What the-?! Why do you need me to take of my shirt if you're taking measurements!?"

Unable to keep a straight face any longer I explained, "I'm not just measuring your height silly boy, I'm checking your muscle mass as well. I wanted to take your weight too but didn't want to bother bringing the scale here when we can just teleport to the nearest restroom and use the one there. I want to make sure you're not underweight, or at the very least unnaturally so, after all you're a very thin young man or was when we first met but you have filled out quite a lot since then. Still, healing that wound on your shoulder and back must've taken a considerable amount of energy meaning you'll be needing more substantial meals than just that sandwich from this moment on. Besides which I told you I wanted to replace some of your old cloths did I not? To do that I'll need your current height, chest, and waist measurements. Don't act so surprised. I told you before that I wanted to start fresh and at least I'm ASKING for this information rather then taking by force or observing you like some lab specimen."

Still blushing Daniel did as I asked and shrugged out of his silk pajama top and repressed a shiver as another wave of cold washed over him. Hopefully in the coming days his chills would settle down once his core stabilized now that his energy could focus on that instead of fighting off an infection. My eyes flashed red briefly when my eyes settled on the scar on his left shoulder which has been happening a lot lately. I was thankful the wound had close enough to remove the need for bandages but I hated seeing that reminder of what happened almost as much as Daniel did as he ran his fingers over the slightly discolored skin where the scar was visible.

Retrieving the tape measure from my pile of medical supplies I measured his chest, shoulders, and biceps before moving down to his waist, where I frowned because it was obvious he was still underweight even though we hadn't weighed him yet. Well once he could handle heavier meals Daniel was going to get nothing but the finest foods my personal chefs could create to replace all the junk food and energy drinks he'd likely tried to get by on when his mother didn't have the time or patience to cook anything. I almost had to assume that Jasmine and Daniel had to fend for themselves a lot which is why they primarily ate at that Nasty Burger joint. How anyone can stomach something so greasy was beyond me, including how I ever managed to before back in my college days.

Somewhat satisfied with the results I wrote down Daniel's other measurements before asking him to stand against the wall so I could measure his height. "Alright, now put your feet together and lean back so your heels and back touch the wall, this should only take a minute."

"Ok..." Daniel responded despondently and did as he was told.

He was probably still thinking about earlier and wondered why I wasn't arguing against most of what he said. But what was there to contend about? If anything I was actually pleased we were getting somewhere and Daniel trusted me enough to finally let it all out as far as the sources of his current frustrations went. I was surprised however that he was now forcing himself to say the name of that ghost he feared, almost as if saying the name would help him overcome the fear now that he knew it was real. However that was something that would have to wait and be addressed another day since Daniel was barely holding it together as it was what with our impending departure.

Hoping to lift his spirits a bit I put the measuring tape away and then casually made my offer, "Daniel? What do you say after we take your weight we go for a quick flight? You made a good point earlier about needing some fresh air and I believe if we go far enough away we'll be able to avoid your parents with ease..."

His head snapped up the moment I mentioned flying and he stared at me with wide-eyed disbelief. I allowed him a moment to wrap his mind around the idea before Daniel tried to pretend he wasn't elated by the idea and shrugged, "Sure, I guess that could be nice, if you say it's ok that is. But how can you be so sure I won't bolt the moment we're outside?"

I watched him as Daniel strode over to retrieve his shirt and I didn't miss the hint of an excited smile just begging to form on his face and nodded, "Unless you intend to challenge me to a race I highly doubt that. You wouldn't get far anyway so I'm not especially concerned. Besides I could actually use the fresh air myself and know just the place to go flying. I want to make sure your ghost half is stable enough anyway to maintain it's form without causing problems with your core. Trust me, I think going for a flight would do us both some good," I smiled which encouraged Daniel to finally let his excitement show and I informed him. "I know for now at least you have some spare clothes now so I'll let you get dressed while I put everything away and meet you back here in say, five minutes?"

"Fine by me but...where are we going?" Daniel asked, a bit of hesitation returning to his voice.

With a sigh I told him, "You know this town better then I do, but I happen to know of a certain lake on the outskirts of town that would be the perfect place for a flight far away from prying eyes. It should only take two teleports to reach it. We'll just have to see if you can handle it through the second one, though given how natural of a flier you are I'm sure you can handle a little vertigo..."

* * *

Danny's POV

Vlad wasn't kidding about the whole vertigo thing but it was actually one of those _'thrilling but scary'_ feelings that once you get it over with the first time it's no big deal. And once I told him I was fine after the first teleport -which when we reappeared it felt kinda like the sort of lurch you feel inside of an elevator when it settles to a stop- without hesitation he did it again. Before I knew it we had left all the city sounds behind us and for a solid minute I was listening to nothing but the soft swish of his cape in a light breeze before I slowly opened my eyes to see that we were floating above the lake already. In the early morning light it looked like the water was on fire, which was pretty cool actually...

Before we even left the mansion Vlad asked me to transform since it would make this _'test flight'_ go more smoothly. Said he wanted to make sure the change didn't have any unexpected side effects. It was weird transforming in front of Vlad without doing it to fight, but oddly enough I felt good so I didn't worry about it so much and lazily drifted away from Vlad to stretch out a bit and take a deep breath of that crisp morning air. There was some tightness here and there in my limbs but since I've been stuck in bed for days on end even I knew that was going to happen. Either way I was beyond glad to get out of that stupid room!

Speaking of which, the only condition Vlad put on going out on this flight was that I had to stay within eyesight at all times just in case I lost my ghost form or fainted or something else went wrong. I didn't care though, I felt better then I have in awhile actually and just being outside felt so liberating. Man, I totally forgot how much I missed getting out of town and doing some recreational flying like this when I wasn't fighting ghosts or just needed to get away for awhile...

After I finished stretching since I seemed steady enough, Vlad gave me the ok to go relax a bit so I drifted further from him so I had more room and went through my normal routine. I started simple by propelling myself upwards by changing my legs into a spectral tail and flying in circles. I didn't want to push myself too hard and risk Vlad cutting our trip short but man, being out here in the open air again, feeling the wind whip through my hair, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my skin, it felt so good it was unreal. I felt like I could forget all of my problems, at least for a little while. The only thing that mattered while we were here was this feeling of freedom!

There was still a noticeable nip in the air that in addition to the chills I was still dealing with, but even with all the rain we've had the last few days it was really warm out here. Birds were chirping, which was a sound I never heard around my own house since most animals knew better then to venture within a five mile radius of Fenton Works, and the constant breeze was sending small ripples across the water while the sunlight cast shadows from the trees all around the lake. How had I never noticed this place before? Then again I usually preferred lazily drifting high in the clouds, away from ghosts and other people, but I think I might avoid that for awhile since getting struck by lightning really sucked.

After awhile I flew back down until I was only inches from the water and on a whim decided to look at my reflection. My ghostly glow was a bit dimmer then usual, or maybe it was hard to see in broad daylight, but otherwise I didn't look as sick as before. There were bags under my eyes and my cheekbones stuck out more then they should too which reminded me that while I may feel better right now, I wasn't fully recovered yet and man I looked like it...

That's when it really hit me that the fact that I wasn't still bedridden was all because of Vlad's quick thinking and experience with ghost powers. I still felt guilty for giving him so much grief because really, Vlad was right about acting differently to prove himself to me but I was too wrapped in my own drama to see it until now. The fact that Vlad was letting me go outside even though I'm still sick, even for a bit, actually meant a lot to me. It meant that he...was actually listening to me, taking my feelings into consideration, and Vlad graciously tried to meet me in the middle. And this was Vlad Masters we were talking about, king of the selfish rich jerks! Or so I used to believe. But right now Vlad was trying to cheer me up and do what was best for me even if I wasn't happy about it so I couldn't fault him for getting annoyed with me acting like a spoiled brat myself.

A few minutes of total silence passed while I began thinking about everything Vlad's done for me the past few days since I could actually remember them this time. I even thought about that dream I had about his alternate future self crying over my broken body when Dan...you know. That's why when I compared that dream to what was happening now I felt for the first time since I started living with Vlad that THAT Vlad was shining through the cold bitter mask I was so used to seeing, and it felt good knowing that. It might take some time, but to me it seemed like Vlad really was changing, for my sake...

The least I could do was meet him in the middle too.

Just then, a gust of wind swept over me and I shivered, rubbing my arms and closing my eyes. And when I opened them I was surprised to see that Vlad was floating beside me with a concerned look on his face. No evil smirk, no hard glare, not even a carefully blank look, just genuine worry. Our eyes met for a second but to add to my surprise neither of us looked away. Although I bet I looked really confused because it was so bizarre seeing him look at me like that so I straightened up to look at him face to face when I thought-

"You know, this is the first time I've ever been out flying with you without throwing fists and energy blasts at each other or those few times we had to team up to fix some mess one of us made. This is so surreal..." when he nodded but didn't say anything and just smiled in agreement I blushed and stammered a bit, "T-thanks by the way, you know for taking me out here. This place is really nice. I never pictured you as a lake-side stroll in the moonlight type..."

"There's a lot you don't know about me little badger," Vlad replied, idly looking past me at the shoreline where he'd been doing just that moments before but in the mid-morning sunlight. "Either way I hope this helped you as much as it helped me my boy. For while I do enjoy the finer things in life there are some things that money can't buy, as you've told me numerous times. I suppose there are a few things I miss about my old suburban life, such as having time to peruse the woods when I needed to get away from the prying eyes of society. I'll have to show you some of my favorite vacation spots someday, and maybe it'll show just how _'human'_ I really am."

Remembering what I said earlier during my vent I followed his gaze and commented in an even tone, "When I said that, I wasn't trying to make it sound like I thought you were some kind of monster. I just...don't know anything about you aside from the stories my parents told us and what I've learned during our battles. But even I know that's only their side of it. They didn't grow up knowing you from kindergarten or something like I did with Tucker and Sam. Guess you never truly get to know someone until you either lose them, something happens and you have to forget everything you thought you knew and start over, or you start living with them 24/7. Before I was shot by my parents I never would have pictured us doing anything like this. Not in a billion years. But-" side-glancing over at him, I smiled, "This feeling...it's a nice change."

"So it is," Vlad agreed, suddenly pulling me closer so he could cover my shoulders with his cape. "Speaking of which, I noticed you shivering earlier which means we should head back. I am pleased that you appear to be able to maintain your ghost form which is a good sign," his smile fading a bit he said, "Daniel, I know this doesn't make up for the way I've treated you since we first met or for how trapped you felt recently during your recovery due to the unfortunate circumstances that brought you to me, but I promise once we reach my castle you'll be free to fly to your heart's content as soon as your core stabilizes completely since I'm still considered a private citizen there in Wisconsin. We can start over from there and get to know one another by talking instead of me spying on you or you doing the same to uncover one of my plots. There's so much I want to show you, Daniel. I want to show you a world I rarely if ever share with anyone. And this time, even though the location is the same, the castle itself is brand new I want you to feel at home there from now on, which is why I have quite a few belated birthday surprises waiting there for you. Now that I'm satisfied with your progress we'll be heading there first thing tomorrow morning. I know it's sudden but trust me, you'll start feeling better once the fear and other constraints you're under now, such as the one concerning your parents discovering your whereabouts, is removed from the equation. You'll still need plenty of rest of course which will still limit some of your movements, but unlike here you'll be allowed to go outside since the fresh air there will be even better for you. I know you wanted to say goodbye to your friends as well but Jasmine will relay a message to them for you, and I'm afraid they're going to have to live with the consequences of their poor choices and how they've effected you in particular. Whatever happens beyond that is ultimately up to them when and if I do allow you to contact them the same way I plan to with your sister. And as promised I will also work on providing the town of Amity Park with the means to protect themselves until such a time as Danny Phantom returns if that is what he decides to do someday. All of this, I'm only doing it for you little badger, remember that. And I'm still a very selfish man at heart, that hasn't changed, so forgive me if I start treating you as less of a patient and more as the son I've always dreamed of."

"Yeah I thought as much, some things never change..." I replied, feeling him gently give my shoulder a reassuring squeeze, "But at least you're trying to show me you're changing where it counts. And now, thanks to this I can finally see...it's more then just empty words. Anyway lets go home, I'm sure Maddie-the-cat is feeling pretty neglected right now herself without us to coddle her!"

"Good point my boy. And goodness, you thought I was selfish? Cat's are by far much worse!" Vlad laughed, an honest laugh that made me smile and think...maybe this will work out somehow. We just had to keep trying...

* * *

Vlad's POV

It was such a relief when Daniel stopped fighting me every step of the way when it came to moving him out of Amity Park. That trip to the lake yesterday morning really had done wonders, both emotionally and physically. And to be perfectly honest I hadn't expected to get much out of it myself other then just knowing Daniel was well enough to handle the long private jet ride to Wisconsin.

Thankfully though, after we got back from the lake, Daniel had worn himself out from just doing all that and slept for several hours, leaving me free to organize the trip to Wisconsin now that I had finally convinced him to make the trip willingly since I had no desire to force or in a worse case scenario slip something into his next meal sedate him or at the very least make him more...agreeable. We were beyond that at this point though since Daniel was being much more reasonable, which was probably due to the simple fact that he hadn't been attacked since I left the Fright Knight in charge of him. However, I wasn't taking any chances. My private jet already had it's own ghost shield installed -since it hardly needed a human one while in midair- and furthermore I would be riding with him personally to make sure Daniel was safe from any and all ghost attacks.

Once that detail was taken care of I began arranging a time for the normal movers to take everything else out of the mansion since my ghost underlings had long since removed everything conspicuous from the laboratory onto the jet so I would have anything I needed on hand if I needed it and no one could try to steal it in transit. Because yes, that has happened to me before and trust me, any thief foolish enough to even entertain the idea of stealing from Vlad Masters were dealt with quickly and accordingly. Which usually left many of them in a traumatized stupor after facing something their puny minds couldn't even begin to fathom...

All in all, we had a relatively peaceful day together and Daniel finally came to terms with the fact that we were leaving so soon. I think that small taste of freedom reminded him that unlike Amity Park, no one knew him in Wisconsin or knew anything about ghosts meaning he would have the freedom to move around more and on top of that wouldn't have to fight anymore outside of training with me. That and there Daniel would also be free to fly around the castle grounds as much as he wanted, within reason of course until he fully recovered.

Aside from that, the nearest town was a few miles away and I owned all the land around the castle. Meaning no one could just stumble across the property and sneak a glimpse of Daniel if he decided to take a stroll out into the garden or go swimming in the outdoor pool. As long as Daniel was with me, I would protect him not only from this unseen force, but also shield him from unwanted eyes so that he would remain free to do as he pleased without feeling the urge to rush off before someone spotted him and exposed his secret. Not to mention the fact that his human half was considered a missing person. But if and when Daniel's presence here with me ever was exposed I would take care of everything, and anyone who stood in my way would soon regret invoking the wrath of a Masters.

* * *

When I was making the final preparations for our trip the next day, at times Daniel would look a bit anxious or as if he was having second thoughts once my usual ghostly minions started discreetly moving all of his belongings onto my private jet and his ghost sense kept going off, making his chills worse but only for a short while. Whenever that happened I gave his good shoulder a reassuring squeeze while bluntly instructing them on where everything should go. Of course I was only doing this as a precaution to personally ensure we erased all evidence that Daniel was ever staying in this guest room, just in case one of the normal movers grew suspicious should they find anything looking like it belonged to an adolescent rather then a billionaire in his 40's...

At one point Daniel even admitted that he was oddly impressed with how well organized this whole production was and with how well I could cover my tracks once they were finished because it really did look spotless. He even went as far as to compare me to some evil spy in a movie he once saw with his friends who convinced the main character that his own twin brother was a just figment of his imagination and wasn't missing at all. This supposed spy wasn't even half as good as I was when it came to doing things incognito from the sound of it since I noticed a few holes in his plan right off the bat. Once he finished explaining the overall plot of the film I mirthfully replied that well of course they weren't as good as me, because for one thing I was real and had many more _'tools'_ at my disposal then most people, spy or no since none of them had ghost powers. That got a good laugh at of him, which was a welcome change when Daniel pointed how it could be argued that I could also be compared to a real-life super villain.

Mostly due to the fact that it had taken a lot of work to clear out the mansion and his room before the real movers arrived Daniel and I didn't talk much during the flight over to Wisconsin on my private jet. That was alright with me since I was just happy Daniel was getting some of the rest he needed. As for me though, with all the _'chores'_ out of the way I could hardly contain my excitement. And no it wasn't just because Daniel was finally coming to live with me from now on somewhere where I could protect him more easily, it was because of what I had planned the moment we arrived.

Oh my little badger was in for a special treat that would put him into orbit so to speak. After learning about his love of space travel and exploration I decided that rather then just rebuild a bunch of empty rooms I was likely never going to use I could bring some of Daniel's dreams to life instead. But the room I was most excited for and was eager to see his reaction to was his bedroom...

I spared no expense.

Everything was top of the line and designed specifically with Daniel in mind. True he may accuse me of learning about his fascination with the cosmos through my spying as well but I couldn't care less. This time I truly wanted to dote on the boy and it gave me a reason to _'waste'_ some of this wealth of mine on someone I truly cared for. And speaking of which, I had a surprise for Jasmine as well that should have arrived by now. I worked on it all night since I couldn't sleep anyway even though I told Daniel I was going to wait before doing this. I suppose my excitement got the better of me and I wanted to please Daniel as much as possible now that things had smoothed over a bit between us and I was feeling hopeful.

That is why I designed a personal laptop from parts I had laying around capable of filtering ghost energy. Though that did not by any means suggest it wasn't still top of the line technology given how I built it from scratch. Simply put, it could not only track ghost energy so she could keep an eye on their parents activities, but it could also prevent anyone from seeing anything related to ectoplasmic energy such as myself and her little brother. I was quite proud of it actually as I already used something similar with my own computers to keep a tight lock on anything ghost-related to make sure the government didn't get too nosy. My hope was that even Daniel's techno-geek friend Mr. Foley couldn't hack into it either, and even if he did only Jasmine could see the data unless she allowed them access since I synced it to her genetic signature, blocking her parents DNA of course in case they got their mits on the device.

True, the gift wasn't as extravagant as the ones I had prepared for Daniel but I was paying for her hotel room and offered to provide anything else she needed until things smoothed over with their parents. Needless to say I was surprised when they finally did listen to my advice and actively began helping to raise more anti-ghost protection around their fair city. It was only a matter of time before they slipped back into their old habits though, especially since word had reached my ears that they reopened the portal to continue their ghost studies which would eventually lead to them confronting many of the ghosts Daniel fought more frequently then others. I did warn them though, under a false name, that if any true harm comes to either of them the reward would be rescinded and the culprit hunted down. I was merely using them as a distraction, nothing more, so really even offering a reward at all was a just formality. All that mattered now, is that the loose ends were finally tied up and I could focus on my main concern-

Daniel.

* * *

"Ok Vlad, we made it here so could you stop acting so weird? Where are we going?" Daniel asked curiously when I simply told him to follow me inside once my limousine dropped us off at the castle doors after the driver picked me up from the airport while Daniel stepped inside invisibly. Not that it mattered since this driver was a ghost but for anyone looking from the outside it would look as though only Vlad Masters had entered the vehicle.

Truth be told I haven't been here since it was remodeled for a third time thanks to Daniel's prank involving the Guys in White where they reduced it to rubble. I suppose this place held a lot of sentimental value to me which is why I didn't simply abandon the property and use it for something else. After making my millions I did most of my best plotting and training here but none of that mattered now. The castle itself was all brand new and thus I wanted to think of this as a fresh start where Daniel and I would build new memories, together. My smile that was already difficult enough to hide as it is threatened to curl at the corner of my lips at the thought...

Together.

I was going to be living together with Daniel from now on, and already even I felt relief wash over me knowing that neither of us had to put on airs here anymore or pretend to be anything but what we were, two humans gifted with extraordinary ghost powers that set us apart from everyone else. I would teach him how to use them to an even greater extent then he already did and as long as Daniel didn't strain himself he could use them for mundane tasks in my presence all he wanted. No more secrets, no more spying, well not much anyway beyond that of parental concern on my part to keep him safe, and most importantly, no more disdain for one another. I would continue proving myself to him since I wanted Daniel to see that we were better off together and I could provide him with safety, a roof over his head, an education, anything and everything he needed to grow up into the fine young man I knew he could be that deserved all I had to give.

Realizing I had yet to answer Daniel's inquiry I smiled, "Just a little further then you'll see. It's one of the surprises I mentioned..."

Daniel rolled his eyes and scoffed playfully, "Hope you're not leading me into an ambush, since as much as I kinda miss ghost fighting I'd rather not."

"You wound me little badger, if we were going to have a mock battle I'd say so," I laughed, still trying to and failing at hiding my eagerness to reach our destination. We stuck up a casual conversation after that just to break the silence and then at long last we reached the appointed door, but I didn't want to spoil the surprise just yet and asked him to close his eyes.

"Alright, whatever you say fruitloop," Daniel sounded slightly exasperated which caught me off guard since it gave me the impression he was hiding some discomfort perhaps? Either way I shook off the feeling since I didn't want to dampen the mood before the grand reveal and I slowly opened the door, escorting him inside by the small of his back before allowing him to open his eyes.

A sharp gasp escaped his lips and finally, I allowed myself to beam with pride as I admired my handiwork without sparing a glance as I explained gleefully, "Surprise little badger! And yes, in case you're wondering how I ever could have ever managed to get this done for you in time I hired the best architects and interior designers money could buy to make this room and a few others their main focus during the last of the renovations to help you feel more at home here surrounded by the thing you love the most. I had a vague idea that you enjoyed space travel and exploration which is why flying is by far one of your favorite powers to use in and outside of battle, but I had no idea how passionate you were until Jasmine herself told me you've always wanted to become an astronaut ever since you were a child. Everything you see here is top of the line, from your bed to the even the rooftop which has a digital screen where you can change the settings to show not only different star systems directly from a live satellite, but it also has a few weather options as well, though I disabled any with thunder or lighting just in case you were still apprehensive about that. As such you may let me know at any time if you want them re-enabled. Just outside the glass doors is a balcony with a personal telescope for when you'd much rather view the stars yourself. Every piece of furniture was handpicked to best suit the overall theme of this room. I do hope everything is to your liking but should you want or need anything rearranged that can easily be arranged for you since I was unsure if you prefer to have your bed in the middle of the room or against a wall. Needless to say this is a far cry from the previous evil castle motif is it not?"

As expected, Daniel was completely speechless and I still resisted the urge to turn around and look at what I was sure was a deeply aghast expression on his face. So trying not to spoil the moment I began idly pointing out some of the smaller details of this room such as the plasma TV mounted to the wall across from his bed, the adjoining bathroom, and his walk in closet with a least a few new articles of clothing he could change into that were infinitely more stylish then his current attire, the classic white and red shirt with baggy pants and worn out sneakers, but I think he would find these casual clothes to his liking until we had him fitted for new ones by my personal tailor.

Eventually though, I couldn't contain myself any longer and laughed, "Still speechless Daniel? Yes I know I may have gone a little overboard, however, after everything you've been through lately I thought this was the least I could do to make you feel more at home. And this is only the beginning. Wait until I show you the observatory I had added to-" just then I heard a thud behind me so I assumed that Daniel bumped into something by accident. And finding his clumsiness rather amusing I began joking in a mirthful tone, "Oh come now my boy I know you're surprised, but swooning seems a little overly dramatic don't you think?"

Silence.

Feeling slightly disquieted about his lack of response at all now I slowly turned around and softly called out his name, "Daniel...? Is everything alright?"

At that moment, my eyes drifted downward to find Daniel curled up in a fetal position, clutching his chest. Seconds later there was an immediate drop in temperature and Daniel began shivering more violently then ever, so much so that I feared he was having a seizure and I rushed to his side. To my horror, his skin was rapidly turning blue and upon lifting him off the floor by his shoulders I desperately cried, "No...No no NO! Daniel? Come on little badger! DON'T DO THIS TO ME! NOT NOW! PLEASE SAY SOMETHING! DANIEL!"


	41. Snowblind

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (07/13/2018):** Surprise readers! You weren't expecting the ending in that last chapter were you? Muahahahaha! Also, to the Guest from before I know it's hard to tell the tone when someone is using from just their words, believe me, but don't worry! I wasn't upset with what you said at all actually! Basically I was only telling you via the chapter fore-note that your concerns were perfectly valid, because to be perfectly honest even I felt that way about it since I have been desperately trying to get them out of Amity Park for AGES now! And I'm the one writing this whole crazy mess! Lolz! Anyways, just wanted to say thank you to everyone that reviewed. I've had something like this planned for awhile now in order to bring back the action, tension, and drama, but something always got in the way when the latter two were causing problems in my real life. Ugh, life, could you not...? As a trade off though, while you guys can't tell from your end of things that chapter contained at least 13 pages worth of writing. Your reactions to it despite all of the delays were totally worth it though! On another note, with Amity Park now behind them at long last things can really start to rev-up again! Hope you're ready and will continue to enjoy the ride, and of course thank you for your continued support!

* * *

Chapter 40: Snowblind

* * *

Vlad's POV

My heart was racing as I frantically tried to get Daniel to respond while in the back of my mind I began analyzing absolutely everything I've done to treat him to come up with a reason why this was happening. His core, rather then stabilizing it had sudden become hyperactive without warning. But why?! The ecto-restorative I gave him during the blood transfusion was diluted to prevent this very thing from happening! That is unless...unless when we went out to the lake Daniel had unconsciously drawn in the cold from around us -much like he would with ecto-energy- and stored it inside of himself. And that in turn had somehow made his core react this way, because now Daniel was trying to expel that energy but he doesn't know how and its unable to escape his body. Therefore, it was rapidly dropping his body temperature as a result.

I tried to counter the effects by using my electric energy to radiate heat just like before, but clearly subduing this new form of energy was doing Daniel more harm then good so I was forced to stop. Yet still his shivering persisted. There had to be some way to stop this! We've come this far, happiness with the son I always dreamed of sharing my life with was within my grasp at last, and I refused to lose him now that Daniel was finally mine! I wasn't about to let some new ghost power endanger his life, not again. Not after the boy had been stuck living in constant fear because of his own parents and the ghosts their portal released day day in and day out putting them all in danger, especially their children! No, Daniel was going to be alright. And I would do everything within my power, both ghostly and mortal, to make sure of that...

Time was of the essence though and first of all I had to do something before he froze to death from the inside! While our core's were supposed to make us almost entirely immune to the effects of their base element, sadly Daniel hadn't reached that point yet in his development. Not to mention that unlike normal ghosts he's still half-human, a human that was still recovering from a near-death experience that almost destroyed both halves of him. Only now it was his own core that was killing him, not some lethal anti-ghost weapon his parents built designed to block and attack that type of foreign energy. He was simply too weak to control his power properly and as a result...it was overpowering him.

"Daniel, I'm sorry. I-I can fix this, just hold on!" I stammered, alarmed by how pale and blue his skin already was, not to mention frigid to the touch.

"...s-so...cold...Vlad I-" he began in a disturbingly weak voice, trying to peer up at me though his eyelids were heavy and he was struggling to remain conscious.

In a panic though I blindly snapped, "Silence Daniel! Save your energy!"

After immediately transforming into my ghost form, I unceremoniously tore off my cape and wrapped it snugly around Daniel's shoulders since it was made of microfibers designed to withstand intense heat as well as extreme cold. Scooping him up into my arms bridal style while ignoring the frost rapidly forming across my own skin and clothes from making direct contact with him, I teleported us both straight to my new laboratory. Because out of habit no matter where I moved to, that was the place I made sure was built first or secretly added to my new home. And good thing I had too, because right now Daniel was in dire need of medical attention which required my equipment to be up, running, and ready for my immediate use.

My own fingers were trembling terribly too as I angrily shouted orders to my super computer to calibrate one of the spare incubation pods left over from my cloning experiments to Daniel's vital signs. Although I already destroyed most of the records and the equipment I had that related to that incident to ease his mind about that Dan creature, some it was too valuable to destroy outright. That, or on their own they were either perfectly harmless or could still be put to much better use.

Thankfully this was one such device. Not unlike my spare human & ghost shield, I decided to keep this pod at the ready since it could easily be re-purposed for something positive, such as Daniel's medical needs for example. It was originally designed to regulate the temperature and monitor the vitals of a clone anyway so why not the real thing...? Surely this could stabilize him! If not then I wasn't sure what else I could do because blast it all why did Daniel have to end up with a rare type of ghost core I knew so precious little about dealing with!?

Even though I knew perfectly well why I was using this device, since I was fully aware of how I previously used it against him and essentially tortured the boy, I found myself haphazardly explaining myself to Daniel as I promptly floated over to put him inside of the chamber in the hope that something could be done to subdue his hyperactive core. "I know how this looks Daniel, b-but I promise it's not what you think! I am not using this to confine you by any means; we just have to find out what's happening with your core. Now, I need you to transform. If nothing else your ghost-half can handle the cold better than your human one which will buy us more time. Can you do that for me...?"

Shivering violently and hugging my cape close to his body, his blue eyes finally met my own and to my surprise they briefly flashed an icy hue rather than green before he finally nodded grimly, closing his eyes and allowing the rings to spread and transform him. Daniel hissed sharply though when the rings passed over his chest, betraying how much pain it was causing him. And I berated myself once again for allowing this to happen when things were going so well between us...

How could I have been so blind?! Removing him from that insignificant speck of a town was supposed to help Daniel, not cause more problems as soon as we arrived! This was all my fault. In my arrogance, I'd forgotten to consider EVERY possible complication that could arise from moving him too soon! Instead of being as careful and calculating as I usually was, like an absolute fool I acted too hastily when I found myself feeling more concerned about his happiness than Daniel's current state of health. I'd forgotten just how close Daniel had come to dying in my arms mere weeks ago and failed to keep in mind that no matter how well he seemed on the surface thanks to his accelerated healing, the boy was still recovering.

I suddenly grew very alarmed when Daniel's eyes started drooping and he threatened to lose consciousness at any moment; though much like doing so in a blizzard, it could prove fatal. So in response I rapped my fist sharply on the glass to startle him back to awareness and snarled in a low voice, "Don't you dare close your eyes! Daniel, if you fall asleep like this before I figure out what's wrong you'll die from hypothermia! You have to fight it little badger, I can only do so much from here! I don't know enough about your core yet to help you! They're YOUR powers! So do something about this!"

"I c-can't..." Daniel replied, hugging himself more tightly as the glass began to freeze over despite my efforts to regulate the temperature within the chamber. "It hurts-s Vlad...I-I need to-to..."

Blinking slowly, Daniel looked back up at me with a mixture of resolve and uncertainty before he started to glow blue. And before I could stop him the entire chamber began freezing over as Daniel instinctively expelled that excess energy like he was supposed to. Immediately after that I quickly checked to make sure the pod was still functioning properly and manually rose the temperature again to melt the ice. However the moment I saw Daniel's face again it was hardly any less blue than before and he was still shivering, meaning what he just did wasn't going to be enough.

Warming him up would take time, time we didn't have, and even then there was no guarantee I could do anything more for him. Especially since I lacked the data on cold ghost cores and knew even less about how it would effect another half-ghost hybrid since my core was electric. There were so few ghosts I knew of in the Ghost Zone who were available to study that possessed a cold core anyway aside from that blubbering fool Klemper and-!?

"Frostbite..." I breathed, grabbing a spare cape from somewhere in the lab almost absentmindedly as my mind reeled and quickly formulated a plan of action. "Yes, of course! Those abominable freaks think very highly of Daniel don't they? Surely they'll help me save their precious hero, and if not then I'll MAKE THEM! I just have to reach them in time and bring that ghost back here with me."

Whirling around to face the ghost portal, my hands crackling with raw ecto-energy, I angrily flew over to open the blasted thing when I froze and muttered a low curse upon realizing I couldn't leave Daniel alone like this any more then I was able to before. But, there was no time to look for someone to watch him! For his sake I had to go at once given how quickly his condition was deteriorating! True, the pod could radiate heat which would hopefully keep him warm for awhile, but since I was dealing with a condition similar to hypothermia if I warmed him too quickly Daniel's body would go into shock. But if I didn't keep it warm enough in there to keep the frost at bay then his raw power would eventually short out the device, leaving him exposed to the elements. Taking him with me was out of the question too, as his enemies would not hesitate to-!

"I-I'm...sorry Vlad," Daniel suddenly muttered, placing one of his gloved hands on the glass and leaning his forehead on it as he laughed weakly. "Bef-fore I pass out I w-wanted t-to tell you s-somet-thing. That room it was...really c-cool. I just...didn't mean to make that...literal..."

After that Daniel's eyes rolled back and he lost both his consciousness and his ghost form and weakly sagged against the inside of the chamber. That's when something inside of me just snapped. An unbridled fury at the injustice of it all when a new life with him was finally within my reach hardened my resolve and I knew I was going to have to risk leaving Daniel alone and hope that I could convince Frostbite to cease hostilities long enough to save him. At least I already knew the way, I could easily teleport there, but after that I could only pray that time...was on my side.

* * *

As soon as I arrived in the land of the Far Frozen shortly after entering the Ghost Zone and teleporting a few times, my face twisted into a scowl at the sight of it when I recalled what happened the last time I was here. That, and because this frozen wasteland was as dismal and empty as I remembered. Frostbite's village could be anywhere and I couldn't afford to waste any time on a prolonged search. So the quickest way to find them was actually to let them find me and make my presence known. They would see me as a threat obviously but with any luck Frostbite himself would lead the charge once his people informed him of just who the _'intruder'_ was...

With that in mind I chose the most likely direction to draw their attention and began to fly with deliberate slowness. With nothing but the silence and my own thoughts to keep me company though my mind wandered and eventually settled on pondering what Daniel told me just before he fainted. I was glad that Daniel had at least been well enough to recall me showing him his new room, but that feeling was quickly overshadowed by the bitterness I felt towards this whole situation. I should have seen the signs long before then that something was wrong when Daniel started behaving strangely during the end of the flight.

What a fool I was. Of course I'd assume it was merely his nerves making him act in such a way since as I said before Daniel didn't exactly have fond memories of visiting my castle before on numerous occasions. Even so, I wanted to change all of that, start anew, and wipe the slate clean not unlike a fresh blanket of snow covering the ground. Yet even that was beyond my reach since it seemed like my fate was to have my hopes dashed as well the moment reality shatters any illusion that I could obtain the thing I wanted most, a son, an heir. Before all this I thought I could have that with Maddie, either by adopting her own children into our new family as my own or perhaps having another child with her. After all I didn't want just anyone to carry on my name though, oh no, my son was going to have to prove themselves through hard work and diligence. On the off chance we had a daughter the same would apply to her.

However, from the moment I met Daniel and discovered that there was someone else like me already in more ways then I could have ever dreamed possible that all changed. Despite being Jack's son too I could see so much of his mother in the boy, namely his spirited and loyal nature. If only I could become a better father to him and obtain that loyalty then I was content knowing that I'd already found someone not only worthy of all my earthly possessions, but also my legacy as a Masters'. He had so much potential and his parents were blind to it either because of Jasmine's brilliance overshadowing their son's or they simply assumed Daniel wanted to be a ghost hunter and pressured him unjustly by forcing him into that role when his sister clearly had other plans and didn't want to carry on the family tradition of hunting ghosts. If only they knew just how _'forced'_ into his role Daniel was, now being a half-ghost that couldn't look to them for help controlling his new powers even if he wanted to out of fear that they would no longer see him as their son...

But to me, regardless of his being a hybrid or not I've come to realize that Daniel was still the son I never had in so many ways. I was hard on him too because I wanted him to excel. I took care of him because I wanted him to feel safe and smile at me the way no one else has, a smile full of warmth and admiration not because of my power and wealth, but because he was happy to have someone like me to look up to and guide him. That's why I wanted to protect him from now on, from Dan, from his parents, other ghosts, the cruelty of this world, and most of all prevent Daniel from suffering alone as the only one of of his kind like I resolved to in the unlikely event that Maddie and I never COULD have children due to my...condition.

I was abruptly pulled from my thoughts when I heard a loud whooshing sound directly behind me and just barely managed to dodge the blast of an eerily familiar ice power. When there was a pause in their attack I opened my mouth to speak when a battle cry shattered the silence and several more of the Far Frozen surrounded me. My frown deepened when I noticed that Frostbite was not among them. I thought for sure he'd be here so I deigned to do whatever it took to draw his attention by teaching these reject polar bears a lesson in never crossing Vlad Plasmius!

Dodging the oncoming blasts of ice energy coming from several directions at once I split myself into four and retaliated by destroying the engine on one of their hover-ships and grabbing one of them by the horns and flinging them against the nearest rock face. Stunned, one of his comrades tried to help his friend to his feet but I shot a beam of raw ecto-energy above them and buried them up to the neck in snow. Meanwhile my other three duplicates were engaged in hand to hand combat with the remaining ghosts and I scanned the battlefield for any sign that they'd signaled their leader requesting his aid. My anger only grew as more time passed and Frostbite failed to appear so I redoubled my efforts to make myself a more formidable threat which wasn't hard since unlike the last time I was prepared to counter their ice powers and Daniel wasn't here to get in my way. No, Daniel was the reason I was fighting them in the first place! I was doing this for his sake, all of it, and the only reason I didn't take advantage of the openings I had to destroy these annoying fuzzballs is because he'd never forgive me if I harmed anyone he considered a friend or ally.

After awhile though I grew tired of keeping up this farce and recalled my duplicates and picked up the nearest ghost from a pile of snow, held him up by the collar and hissed, "Alright enough of this! Where is Frostbite? I demand to see him at once!"

Bearing his fangs at me, the creature replied defiantly, "Reinforcements are on their way as we speak trespasser! We might not have been able to defeat you but our brothers will...!"

"I highly doubt that," I growled, roughly tossing him to the ground then pinning him down with my boot. "Now you listen to me, you're going to tell Frostbite that Vlad Plasmius seeks an audience with him and to call off his attack. Otherwise-!" With a grunt I was suddenly sent flying when a giant snowball slammed into me, freeing my captive, and when I recovered my balance I saw the one I was looking for.

Frostbite had finally decided to join the fray after all...

Leaning down, Frostbite offered a paw to his fallen companion while the rest of his people, including a few I defeated earlier who had already rejoined the fight, and helped him to his feet. "That was a close one my friend. Are you unharmed?"

The tribesman nodded and glared at me before responding, "Yes, I'm fine thanks to you. Now let us destroy the enemy together and show him he can't order us around!"

"Order you? And what pray tell did the Fanged One say he wanted...?" Frostbite asked, his eyes narrowed at me until I finished brushing off the snow and they widened the moment he recognized me and shoved his comrade aside protectively. "Plasmius, I see that you've returned to the scene of the crime. I take it you didn't learn your lesson last time we crossed paths? You've already seen for yourself what we do to intruders and thieves here in our domain."

Sneering at him, I snapped, "The ONLY reason you won last time is because I was caught unprepared, so don't think I'm as easy to defeat as before. At any rate I'm glad you're here. We need to talk about-"

"We know why you're here!" one of the other tribesman shouted as they in turn gathered in front of their chieftain and trained their spears at my chest, "Like others before you you've come after our ancient relics! No one else would dare trespass here and delve so deep within the Ghost Zone alone! No one but a fool after our secrets!"

My eyes flashing dangerously and with my ecto-energy flaring again I replied venomously, "You idiotic mongrels have NO idea who you're dealing with, now stand aside and allow me to speak to Frostbite, or else. I lack both the time AND patience to deal with the rest of you."

Another tribesman took a step closer, his spear raised to my throat as they scoffed, "And why should we believe you Fanged One? You've stolen from us before and are clearly here to do so again! We'll not fall for your lies!"

The one next to him nodded and grinned, "Besides, if you really are his hated enemy then we'll honor the Great One and our tribe by defeating his mightiest foe! You will trouble him no more Fanged One. Now begone or suffer the wrath of the Far Frozen!"

Preparing myself to use _'other means of persuasion'_ as a last resort I began charging up more energy when suddenly Daniel's placid face flashed across my mind and I hesitated. This was getting us nowhere and we were quickly running out of time; or at least Daniel was. That's why I had to persuade Frostbite to come with me quickly and willingly somehow. Because I would not be able to drag him back to my lab without the whole tribe giving chase!

My heart began racing as panic set in when Frostbite surprised me when he held up a large paw, signaling for his kinsman to lower their weapons, and reasoned, "Hold my brothers, let us first hear what he has to say for himself. For when I arrived to defend our people from this threat I noticed how much he held back during much of the fight when Plasmius could have easily slain any number of you to reach the village and steal the Infimap. It is unlike such an adversary to do so when he did not before even when at a clear disadvantage. Besides which, if the map was his objective then he would not have bothered to reveal himself to us and ask for me by name, let alone draw so much attention to himself by doing so."

"Precisely! If it wasn't for the real reason I'm here I would have set fire to this whole place to draw Frostbite out if you stupid polar bears kept standing in my way. Probably would be an improvement to be honest. At least YOU see sense though Frostbite, an admirable trait in a leader even of such a primitive race of limited intelligence. That's right, if I was after the map this time you snowy vermin would be ASHES at my feet by now, but I'm here with another purpose! I suggest you listen to your leader and back down, or I might not be so kind when I strike again..." I threatened menacingly.

Exchanging looks, the one with his spear aimed at my throat growled, "Bold words to be sure, Fanged One, but can you back them up? You say you're here for a different reason this time, but all I see is an outnumbered fool goading us to attack. And I say we oblige him!" His comrades nodded to each other and inched foreword, but Frostbite made his presence known again.

"That is quite enough," Frostbite said, his voice low and harsh which made his people shrink back a little. "I believe what he says is true...for I sense much hesitation from him. Lower your weapons. He is clearly here on a more urgent matter. Speak, Plasmius, because you will only get this one opportunity to do so. For should it turn out to be a lie after all, the battle will resume to defend ourselves from a known enemy such as yourself. Now, tell me, why are you here...? What stays your hand if the map is not your objective? I can see the fear that shines brightly behind your eyes as you stand before me Plasmius, but what is the reason for that? I doubt even we could instill such terror in one such as yourself."

Insulted by his accusation though it was a surprisingly keen observation I growled, "Fear isn't why I hold my attack, mongrel. I'm here on behalf of YOUR savior! And right now, he desperately needs your help," my expression softened a little and I continued in an even tone, "I've done everything I can but it's not enough. Daniel is- I mean, Danny Phantom needs the kind of help only your people can provide. I'm sure you can imagine why..."

I slowly raised an arm to place a gloved hand to my chest and gave him a meaningful look, to which his eyes narrowed in silent recognition of the gesture and he considered me for a moment before addressing his people. "This is not the place for such talk. Come, we shall return to the village at once!"

Nodding, one of his fellow tribesman shouted, "You heard the honorable chieftain, ready your weapons and prepare to escort the prisoner to-"

"I never said he was a prisoner," Frostbite clarified, crossing his arms and peering down at me. "As this matter concerns the Great One it would be foolish to dismiss his claims so easily. If there is any chance that the Great One is in danger then I am willing to call a temporary truce to hear Plasmius out properly. Just know however that if we sense the slightest hint of treachery, you will be banished from the village, never to return, is that understood Fanged One?"

Rolling my eyes I shoved the nearest tribesman aside and said, "Very well, I agree to your terms but we have to hurry. We're running out of time." _Daniel...is running out of time,_ I added silently to myself as I followed them to the village, wondering if I had done the right thing coming here.


	42. If At First You Don't Succeed

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 41: If At First You Don't Succeed...

* * *

Danny's POV

When I finally came to, the last thing I clearly remember was seeing Vlad's face through the frosted glass before everything faded to black. Not that this wasn't the first time that sort of thing has happened between Vlad and I. But this wasn't like all those other times. This time Vlad didn't look angry for the sake of being angry or bitter and resentful, he looked frustrated, almost...lost. And it's all my fault if Vlad really felt that way too.

I should've said something when the cold feeling grew steadily worse after we left Amity Park and made it all the way here to the castle. I never saw this coming either, it just...overwhelmed me all of a sudden. Seriously if I had had the sense to swallow some of my stupid pride and said something sooner, maybe this wouldn't have happened...

I just...didn't want to give Vlad another reason to keep treating me like a baby you know? I mean sure I'm still recovering and all that, but that doesn't mean I'm completely helpless. At least not anymore. And I hated it when my sister treated me like I was incapable sometimes just like my parents so I wasn't going to take it from Vlad too. Their hearts were in the right place, but old habits die hard I guess and my gut instinct was to prove them wrong even if I didn't have to. To prove that I could take care of myself.

The numbing pain spreading from my chest only started during the flight over here on Vlad's private jet though, so up until then I was doing fine and only dealing with the normal sort of chills. When I started feeling a bit odd I was kinda hoping I could just sleep it off and there wouldn't be a problem. Not to mention I was sick of feeling like a burden anyway, even to Vlad. And when sleeping it off didn't work I tried to grit my teeth and bare with it until we arrived and wait until Vlad left me alone for awhile to get some more rest and get used to things. I was hoping I'd be able to hide my discomfort from Vlad at least long enough so that he wouldn't start freaking out on me again...

Like a total idiot I thought I could do something about it on my own, but then the cold it...it began to burn the inside of my lungs with every breath. I tried to hide it by breathing in through my nose, but I couldn't do even that without it causing another sharp stab of pain in my chest. After that, I realized that I was in serious trouble when Vlad's voice began fading in and out of focus and my knees gave out before I could brace myself. I didn't really have time to process what was happening before I noticed my surroundings again Vlad put me inside of this all-too-familar pod and started shouting at the computers or muttering to himself. It's all a vague blur now but I know that despite everything I tried to tell him that I-!

I winced when another wave of chills swept over me so I automatically held the blanket closer while trying not to move too much in order to keep warm, which was getting more and more difficult to do. Blinking slowly, I thought groggily, _Wait, I don't remember Vlad giving me a blanket. But then, what's this thing wrapped around me...?_

Glancing to the side with only my eyes, I barely noticed just how blue my fingers were when I saw that beneath them they were tightly clutching what looked like a familiar piece of long white fabric. At the sight of it my chest gave another painful jolt as I abruptly tore the cape off of me in disgust only to realize seconds later that it wasn't Dan's, it was Vlad's because it was inlaid with red and not black. Now I remember. Vlad gave me the cape he was wearing to keep me warm after he transformed and then put on a spare just before he ran off somewhere. I sighed in relief but it was short lived since I was already regretting the choice I made to tear it off, because without it the cold now radiating off my skin was making the chills even worse.

At that point the chills weren't just from the cold anymore. I was seriously starting to freak out because of how eerily quiet it was aside from the machine I was in humming softly. Where the heck was Vlad? How long have I been out? Was I...was I going to freeze to death like this because I acted like an idiot again and wasn't strong enough to control these new powers? Did I make another fatal mistake by letting Vlad bring me here? And worst of all...was I going to die before his eyes all over again just when I thought that maybe he wasn't as bad as I've always thought he was? Is this how fate decided to end the life of Danny Phantom so that I never become my evil self...?

Worn out from shivering so much, I tried reaching out for Vlad's cape again without much success since I could hardly move. You'd think it wouldn't be that hard since there wasn't that much space in here, but all of my muscles were stiff from the cold and ached like you wouldn't believe. So all I could do was shiver weakly and curl up in a tight ball against the glass at the front of the pod, trying to retain what little body heat I had left. I was so tired...so so tired...but every time my eyes threatened to close I remembered Vlad's warning about the possibility of dying from hypothermia so I fought the urge to fall asleep again with all the strength I had left. Hoping that wherever Vlad was...he'd come back soon. Because if I let myself fall asleep this time, I might never wake up again. And this time I have no intention of giving up on myself so easily.

Besides, I wanted to apologize properly to Vlad for not telling him when I first started feeling strange since we agreed to be more honest with each other when it came to my health. I...I wanted to take a chance on trusting him. And now more than ever I wanted this to work. Not just because I had nowhere else to go, but because I wanted to prove to myself and to him that just because my parents screwed up our lives in one way or another, we didn't have to let that get in the way of living our own lives anymore...

We could reach for something better, together.

* * *

The silence was deafening when the familiar sound of Vlad's portal opening broke through it and I slowly tilted my head in that direction. I couldn't see anything through the glass anymore though because the inside of the pod looked like a meat locker, in fact there was so much ice that even in human form my hair looked stark white beneath the frost. While I couldn't see anything, I did hear two voices slowly coming towards me but they were muffled as if the two of them were talking under water. Soon after there was a hissing sound as the pod chamber opened and I stumbled into a pair of very large furry arms that held me up by my shoulders to keep me steady.

Confused, I looked up to see the blurred outline of Frostbite's face and blinked slowly to try and clear my vision as I wondered aloud, "F-Frostbite...? H-how? Why're y-you-"

"All will be explained in due time O Great One," Frostbite interrupted with a calm urgency in his tone, his worried gaze raking over me before he nodded towards Vlad who was standing beside him and observed, "Plasmius has explained your current predicament to me and so we must return to my people at once to see to your medical needs."

I opened my mouth to say something to Vlad who was looking at me with an odd expression on his face when Frostbite suddenly scooped me up in one paw, cradling me against his broad chest which already made me feel a little more clearheaded. And I idly wondered if maybe Frostbite was somehow absorbing the cold I was radiating as opposed to what Vlad was doing before when he kept trying to suppress it..?

Just as Frostbite began turning back towards the portal once more, upon noticing the crumpled up piece of white cloth haphazardly laying inside the pod I was in, he picked it up with surprisingly deft claws and offered it to Vlad who then gave him a slightly dirty look and then wrapped it snugly around my shoulders again...

Our eyes met and Vlad smiled unsurely before sighing and addressing Frostbite again, "Alright, lets get this over with. Frostbite, do you still have the map?"

Frostbite nodded and pulled the Infimap out from the back of his jeweled belt with his free paw, the one that was nothing but ice -or some sort of crystal- and bone. "Indeed, for while I know you have the ability to teleport Fanged One, seeing as time was of the essence I deemed it necessary to use the Infimap instead to bring us both directly here so that we might bring my ailing friend back to the village. And to be frank, the fact that I still possess it does you credit, Fanged One. But enough chit chat, we need to put the Great One in a deicing chamber post-haste!"

"F-fang-ged One?" I snickered, earning a brief exasperated glare from Vlad before it became kinda hard to talk because of how badly my teeth were chattering now. That and admittedly I was probably getting delirious again at that point. "You g-guys really aren't-t very creative w-when i-it comes to nickn-names are you-u? E-either that or, V-Vlad is taking t-this whole v-vamp-pire thing too...seriously..."

* * *

"...ow much longer will this take?" Vlad grumbled, his voice gradually coming into focus.

Not long after Frostbite replied calmly, "Patience, considering how long the Great One has been repressing this power within himself, much of his cold energy as you say _'bled out'_ into his human form which has exhausted him. Therefor completely deicing him will take some time yet."

 _Ok, now their voices literally sound like they're coming from underwater. What gives? Where am I?_ I thought groggily, slowly opening my eyes and floundering a bit when I found myself floating in some kind of fluid with an oxygen mask over my face...

Oh, and did I forget to mention my jumpsuit was missing?

Thankfully I didn't have much time to really focus on how embarrassed I felt being in nothing but my underwear for the world to see when Frostbite noticed I was conscious again and beamed, "Great One! You're awake at long last, how do you feel?"

"I uh..." I stammered, glancing over at Vlad who again had this weird look on his face so in reply I blurted out. "Better then earlier I guess, but where exactly am I? What happened? What are you doing all the way out here? And more importantly, why're you with Vlad...?"

Vlad scowled and muttered to himself under his breath when he thought I couldn't hear him, "More like what am _I_ doing with the likes of him," looking up at me though and coming closer after skirting around Frostbite Vlad explained, "Allow me to explain, Daniel. You see, when your ghost core became hyperactive I had no choice but to seek help elsewhere and considering how rare ice powers are among ghosts I had...limited options. Therefore I came here to the land of the Far frozen seeking out your, erm, _'friend,'_ and enlisted his help under a few conditions. Nothing you need to concern yourself with though. And seeing as you're their precious Savior of the Ghost Zone, at least Frostbite had the good sense to hear me out instead of continue our pointless confrontation because otherwise we may have run out of time. You had us worried Daniel; when we arrived to retrieve you my incubation pod could no longer regulate the temperature anymore when you began radiating even more cold energy and your condition was becoming more dangerous. In fact you kept murmuring random nonsensical things to yourself almost as deliriously as you did when you were fighting off that first fever several weeks ago. Sadly shortly after we arrived here you lost consciousness again and we've been waiting for you to come to for several hours. I believe Frostbite is better equipped to explain exactly what happened to you physically this time though so if you'll excuse me, I...need some air."

As if fleeing the room while trying not to lose face Vlad teleported directly outside of the cavern because when my vision finally cleared enough to see properly I could tell we were in some sort of cave filled with various devices not unlike the one I was in now. Shaking my head though I turned to Frostbite who had been waiting patiently for Vlad to finish and explained the rest to me, about why my core was acting up and what we did wrong trying to treat it before. Now it made sense why Vlad looked so grumpy, he felt guilty about what happened. But more then that he hated being wrong and being forced to ask someone else for help. Makes sense since Vlad doesn't exactly like giving anyone else the reigns. What shocked me though was the fact that my ice powers as it turned out, weren't as _'new'_ as we originally thought...

"Whoa whoa whoa, hang on a second! You mean that my ghost sense has been a part of this ice power the whole time? But, why didn't I realize it sooner? Better yet...why haven't these powers shown up until now?" I asked, totally taken aback by this revelation despite what Vlad already told me about the rarity of cold ghost cores.

Frostbite's smile widened and he explained, "They are indeed, and as I said I sensed this power within you from the moment we first met and knew that once they started to manifest more as your body matured you would likely come to us seeking guidance. However I never could have imagined that would to come in the form of your greatest enemy coming to us on your behalf when it endangered your very life. That was quite unexpected. I suspected you might feel the usual discomfort and much confusion but not this."

I winced, "Uh oh, please tell me he didn't cause too much trouble _'enlisting'_ your help."

Giving me a meaningful look, Frostbite sighed, "I won't lie to you Danny Phantom, he did injure a few of my people while trying to draw my attention. However the Fanged One also went to great lengths to hold back since he was in a state of barely contained desperation. I've never seen such behavior from him. Then again, my people and I have only encountered him once before when he stole the Infimap you borrowed by accident, whereas as I understand it you've had numerous confrontations with him. So whatever relationship binds you two must be a complex one indeed. Even so, despite his outwardly harsh demeanor Plasmius has clearly come to care for you a great deal recently or perhaps he always has and did not know how to express those feelings properly until now. Especially if someone like him was willing to humble himself enough to agree to our terms concerning your well-being. Give our history I took a great risk trusting him, but as I said if there was even the slightest chance that your life was in peril then there was no room for hesitation. And I would have failed you as a friend and ally O Great One had I not taken that chance."

Crossing my arms and thinking about everything Frostbite just told me, I asked, "Ok, so what happens now? Vlad said that you came to an _'agreement'_...but what kind of agreement? I don't care if he doesn't want to tell me but at least you can right? I mean this is still my life we're talking about. Which by the way I'm really grateful that you helped him save me because this really came out of the blue -literally turning me blue by the way- and sure I've had problems with my powers before but never like this..." unfolding my arms, I glanced around the cave and hesitantly asked him, "Um...Frostbite? How much did Vlad tell you anyway? About why I'm-"

Raising a paw to silence me, Frostbite smiled kindly and shook his head, "There is no need to explain. I trust your judgment and will not meddle in your personal affairs. The only thing Plasmius revealed to me is that you were gravely injured and due to the nature of those injuries he has taken you under his wing since you cannot return home at present. In any case, know that should you ever need a place to go, our doors are always open to you as well Great One. Although I would imagine that he, being the elder half-ghost, is better suited to fulfill both your human and ghostly needs. Although in this case it was something beyond his control, since unlike him you are still growing accustomed to your gifts and growing into a fine young warrior. And speaking of which, I think it's time that we told you what the two of us agreed was the best course of action to take concerning these new powers of yours-"

* * *

Vlad's POV

If I didn't like this place before, I absolutely despised it now because of the bitter memories now associated with it. For not only had I been humiliated here when Frostbite and his people defeated me and stole back the Infimap, but now I'd been reduced to groveling at their feet so that they would help me save Daniel...

I remember when I felt my blood run cold when we returned to my lab and saw Daniel stumble out of the incubation pod. He looked so weak and was covered head to toe in frost. And again if he'd been entirely human Daniel would have long since frozen to death before we could reach him not unlike when he'd been struck by a thunderbolt squarely in the back. But more then that I hated what I'd been forced to agree to since there was nothing I could do to help Daniel until someone more experienced with this particular power taught him how to control it better. To put it bluntly, I had to agree to let Frostbite and his people train Daniel on how to control his ice core...

Frostbite gave me an overview of what we would need to do from now on to keep his core stable until Daniel learned to control it better. And when I told him how I tried to treat his condition Frostbite scolded me for thinking it was the sort of power that we could just suppress without dire consequences. There had to be balance, and trying to counter his ice powers by using heat-based ones clearly only made matters worse since they needed an outlet. So all we were doing was blocking that residual energy from being released properly, meaning it just built up more and more and began overwhelming Daniel's ghost half.

I had already acknowledged my mistake from the moment Daniel collapsed in the bedroom though, and I had half a mind to teach Frostbite a lesson in keeping his trap shut, but then I'd look over at Daniel's unconscious form and calm down. No, if I could control my temper before when I first came here asking for help then I could continue to do so now. He needed the help, and it was the kind of help that sadly I could not provide. The least I could do was listen to what Frostbite had to say in order to become better informed to avoid such a catastrophe next time.

Although, I'll openly admit that I hated every minute of it.

* * *

A few hours later Daniel was back in his battle-suit and we were lead to a large arena where the two of them could train. What bothered me however was how it'd become a spectacle for the entire bloody village to see! Thankfully, everyone gave me a wide berth as I sat among the bleachers keeping an eye on Daniel except for a few of the Far Frozen I'd fought earlier that were determined to keep a close eye on me in case I tried anything funny. I ignored them however and focused entirely on Daniel who while not blue anymore was still shivering.

I was tempted to call this whole thing off when they stood there just talking and not doing anything useful when there was a flash of blue light and Daniel stumbled to the ground. Instinctively my body moved to stand and fly over to him and help him up but I forced myself not to. We were here for a reason. And as much as I hated leaving his training to these primitive snow-freaks I had no choice and this would be better for Daniel in the long run. Still, I allowed myself a petty smirk when I saw that Daniel had inadvertently frozen Frostbite into a solid block of ice much like his people had done to me and then I was donated as a _'life-size statue'_ of the new Mayor of Amity Park.

During the first training session I took care to take some mental notes since this was one of the few times I'd watched Daniel use his powers personally when we weren't fighting or I wasn't watching the secret footage Valerie Grey was taking of their battles. And a few times I felt the urge to blurt out pointers because good lord, has his aim always been so awful? Daniel had so much raw power at his fingertips but lacked precision and focus with his larger attacks. I already knew this from my own observations over the past year and how Daniel threw everything he had at me, frustrated to no end that unlike his other adversaries I could easily block his almost every move. Clearly the boy was much too aggressive, he needed to learn how to defend himself better and think a few steps ahead of his opponent instead of on his feet all the time.

For while I admired that quality it also had its draw backs...

* * *

Some of the training exercises were almost painful to watch because I knew Daniel was more creative, powerful, and intelligent than that until I realized he was slowing down due to fatigue. Frostbite noticed this too and while this was important, it would be dangerous to push Daniel too hard to fast. Besides which, some of the more foolish bystanders that didn't have the good sense to turn intangible like I did whenever Daniel misfired weren't looking to well off themselves and all but fled from the stadium when Frostbite announced they were done for the day and told everyone to return home.

As for me, I flew directly over to them and looked Daniel over, frowning at how pale he was again and the slight quivers didn't escape my notice either but these were from overexertion. To my surprise though Daniel was smiling and for the most part felt very accomplished and looked forward to finishing up their training since he was starting to feel more like himself again. This would have made me smile too until I saw that his gratitude was not aimed at me, but at Frostbite.

There it was again...this ugly jealousy I was all too familiar with that forced me to look away and try to hide it behind a calm indifferent mask. It felt like every time I reached for something that could bring me happiness, happiness with someone who could fill some void in my life, their gaze was always turned to someone else and I was left all alone to fade into the background, forgotten. I hated this feeling. When Daniel finally agreed to come here with me I thought...I really thought we could start over and I could become the new center of his whole world. Just as he had become mine once I let go of my dreams with his mother, Maddie. As usual though my dreams had been crushed into the dust, or in this case buried under the snow...

Or had they?

Glancing back over at Daniel and Frostbite who were going over what they'd practiced today, I remembered how a few times when he seemed unsure of himself his gaze scanned the crowd as if looking for me. That simple action on Daniel's part gave me hope that even if I couldn't teach him how to control these ice powers, there was far more that ONLY I could teach him in the long-run. So I should focus on that instead, focus on the positives and what I COULD eventually teach and provide for him from now on. I could offer him stability, in his life, in school, his emotions, and most of all his other powers. Like with many things lately, if this was just another sacrifice I had to make to ensure Daniel's future was a better one, then so be it.

As they say, _'if at first you don't succeed, try, try again...'_


	43. Confessions Of A Teenage Ghost Boy

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 42: Confessions Of A Teenage Ghost Boy

* * *

Danny's POV

Later that night or whatever time it was here since it was hard to tell sometimes, I woke up from a familiar nightmare and pressed my palms against my eyes, focusing on my breathing. With everything that's been going on it'd been awhile since I thought about Dan, but maybe the fact that we were staying overnight in the Ghost Zone and Dan was still here in Clockwork's care was putting me on edge. Either way, once I calmed down a bit I grabbed the coat Frostbite brought me just in case the chills made it too hard to sleep and stepped outside the cave. It felt a little weird wearing a fur coat since, you know, his people are covered in the stuff, but since it was resistant to the cold too it helped a lot.

I learned a lot today, despite messing up a lot and I tried really hard not to because I knew Vlad was watching. Heck I'm surprised he didn't butt in at all during today's training session, not once. Part of me felt relieved by that, but the other half of me couldn't help but wonder if Vlad was still mad at me for what happened because I didn't tell him anything. I couldn't get two words out of him during the feast Frostbite threw to celebrate my first day of training so they could drink to my good health or something like that. But like I said, that's only part of what was worrying me...

I looked up at the sky, reminding myself that we were still in the Ghost Zone, but you couldn't really tell because it looked like any other night sky except it was a dark shade of steel gray and there wasn't a single star to be seen, which makes sense. It kinda made me wonder if they had some sort of artificial sky here or something to hide themselves from view from the outside or something. Well, I suppose this was better then seeing all those random ghosts drifting by and thousands of doorways floating around leading to who knows where.

That was part of why I was so worried, I've never been in the Ghost Zone this long before and it felt...unnerving. I felt a little too at home here, and then there was that pull again, like when I was drawn to Vlad's ghost portal only now it was stronger. Although, it could just be because I had taken a turn for the worst again and used up too much ghost energy whether it was my normal ghost energy or this new ice kind. I wasn't sure. And so my ghost half instinctively knew it needed to replace that energy since I was generating my own fast enough, at least that's what was going on according to Vlad.

Now that I was actually here though, I was tempted to make a quick trip to Clockwork's since it wasn't that far from where we were now in retrospect. But after thinking about it more carefully for awhile I decided that it wasn't worth the risk and I wasn't ready to face him yet.

Clockwork, or Dan.

Whatever was going on with me that had something to do with Dan would just have to wait until I got better. Not to mention I had to make sure I was going to Clockwork for the right reasons. And besides, Vlad was too close to the situation already, and knowing him he could easily follow me and I didn't want him to find out about Clockwork or the truth about Dan. I wasn't ready to share that secret with him. And who knows if I'll ever be...

* * *

 _Danny..._ a voice called out to me; a voice that sounded so close that it was almost like it was breathing right into my ear, but at the same time it was very far away. I knew that voice. I knew it better then anyone's.

Wasn't that...my voice?

I jerked awake after quickly realizing I must have nodded off at some point after I sat down on a boulder near the mouth of the cave to rest my legs while I was trying to gather my thoughts. And that's when his eerily familiar voice disturbed me enough to wake me almost instantly. Frowning when he repeated my name in the same creepy but inviting tone because he was trying to get under my skin, I closed my eyes and folded my arms then told him angrily, "Go away, that's not going to work on me this time..."

"What's not going to work on you?" Vlad asked, showing up out of the blue right beside me like some living shadow.

With a yelp I reflexively jumped to my feet, my muscles clenching when I stopped myself from entering a battle stance and stammered, "V-Vlad!? Wha-what are you doing here...?"

"I was about to ask you the same question my boy," Vlad replied with a raised eyebrow and I had a flashback of his future self saying those exact same words to me when I went to him for help and I quickly looked away, trying not to remember what we had to do to get me back to my own time. When he noticed that I was avoiding his gaze, Vlad smiled sadly and mused, "Ah, you still think I'm upset with you. Don't you little badger?"

My head snapped up and I asked him without thinking, "Well, aren't you? I mean, I pretty much lied to you and-"

Raising a hand briefly to stop me -which was human by the way which surprised me since I would have thought Vlad would have preferred to stay in ghost form the entire time we were here- Vlad placed it on the small of my back afterwards and led me further inside the cavern again and out of sight just as two of Frostbite's people out on patrol passed by. Then Vlad took a seat on another nearby boulder, crossed his legs after inviting me to sit with him, and calmly replied, "While I am upset that you felt the need to lie to me at this point, I'm much more concerned about your well-being Daniel. Don't think I didn't notice how you were tossing and turning in your sleep a short while ago. And in case you are wondering, no, I was not watching you like a _'creeper.'_ Frankly the racket you were making woke me up. Which bodes the question, is this an emotional or physical issue? Can you at least tell me that much?"

With a heavy sigh, I sat down beside him and after biting the bottom of my lip I finally told him, "I had another nightmare...about Dan."

When I didn't say anything more then that Vlad pressed, "Do you want to talk about it? As I understand it you've only ever spoken to your sister whenever one of these nightmares troubled you. It doesn't take a genius to figure out why you're having them again now." Gesturing with a wave of his hand, he continued bluntly, "We are currently in the far reaches of the Ghost Zone after all, and this...being you're so afraid of is lurking somewhere in this vast realm who is trying to get his hands on you. But rest assured Daniel that I am looking into the matter and I want to get out of here as much as you do. I want to get you as far as possible from yet another dangerous situation. The whole reason we left Amity Park was to give you a safe place to rest and recover but, well, as you can see mistakes were made. That being said though, I'm not..." he trailed off before looking at me again and putting his hand on my shoulder, telling me awkwardly, "I'm not...angry with you Daniel. The fact of the matter is that I shouldn't have acted so hastily, because you're actually not as well as you appear to be. That's the only reason I'm putting up with any of this nonsense. I'm putting up with it because they have what you need and I don't. If I did we wouldn't be stuck here and I'd be sleeping in my own bed, as would you be."

"I know," I blurted out, my shoulders drooping. "I know I messed up, but I was getting so sick of you treating me like a little kid! Everyone does that! Even my sister. The truth is I didn't want to tell you when I started feeling strange because-"

"Because you didn't want to disappoint me and look weak," Vlad finished, a thoughtful smile lighting up his face. "Come now Daniel, isn't it obvious that I hold you in much higher regard than that? After all, would I have settled for any less in someone I consider-" he stopped, listened for something I hadn't noticed, and with a sigh he rose to his feet and gestured for me to do the same. "Nevermind, off to bed with you little badger. It's late and you'll need all your strength to finish the rest of Frostbite's training."

Feeling unsure of myself as Vlad casually started walking away, without moving I called out to him, "Wait."

"Yes?" Vlad asked, his voice betraying no emotion.

I swallowed hard, tried looking him squarely in the eyes, but then when I was unable to find the right words I just put my face in my hands and confessed, "I didn't ask for this. I thought...I thought I could deal with it on my own like I always have. But I messed up, again, and I hate it. I hate feeling so powerless! And I can't help but feel like everywhere I turn...he's there. My biggest mistake, staring me right in the face, waiting for me to..." my voice quivering, I finally admitted what was really holding me back, "That's what he wants, Dan wants me to start craving power. And today, during Frostbite's training, I felt good for the first time in ages. In fact I felt almost too good and I guess it's kinda freaking me out. At the same time though, I know that if I want to beat him once and for all I have to get stronger. I'm just worried about what it'll do to me once I do. What I'll become. _Who_...I'll become."

Kneeling in front of me, Vlad rested his head against the top of mine and promised, "It's your choice who you ultimately become, Daniel. But there's no point in worrying about this now. You need to get some rest little badger. That's the only way you'll have the strength to at least finish what we came here to do which is getting these unruly ice powers of yours under control. So lets get you to bed shall we?"

I nodded, too tired to argue with him and Vlad helped me to my feet then guided me back to the guest room Frostbite gave me. At first glance it looked like one of those fancy ice hotels carved right out of glacier, with fur bedding and heat-less lamps giving the room an ethereal glow. That by itself had a very calming effect on me. And having someone with me, even Vlad, helped too.

To keep my mind off of everything, Vlad sat down beside me and went off on a tangent telling me all about this place being nothing but a frozen nightmare and about him wanting nothing more then to go home where we could have a _'civil'_ conversation during a meal with decent food and real utensils. Eventually I started zoning out and stopped listening to the words and just focused on Vlad's voice to keep me grounded in reality. The reality where Vlad was here, by my side and ON my side this time and I wasn't as alone as I thought...

That's when it hit me again how strange it was that Vlad was actually doing something good for a change. He made the right choice bringing me here to Frostbite and his people and that can't have been an easy decision. That's why when this was all over, I needed to make sure I thanked Vlad properly. Because if it wasn't for him...I would have already lost myself.

And that was all I had left to lose...

* * *

Vlad's POV

The following morning, the next training session proved to be almost just as unbearable to watch as the first. As I continued watching Daniel struggle and infuriate himself more and more as his new ice powers continued to misbehave, I soon came the conclusion that he was about to hit his limit again. It was only a matter of time before he hurt himself too. I knew that for a fact...and dreaded it. That's why I moved much closer to where he was positioned this time, ignoring the increased risk of getting hit by a wayward icy blast or a snowball accidentally or purposefully infused with ecto-energy and the fact that I originally kept my distance to allow Daniel to figure this all out for himself, with Frostbite's guidance of course since mine wouldn't do him any good in this regard...unfortunately.

Yesterday I barely managed to remain composed despite the situation, but today I had no such luck keeping my emotions in check. And so my eyes began flashing bright red and my lips curled into a snarl whenever anyone dared come too close to me because I didn't want them distracting me. Eventually they finally wised up and knew to keep their distance from me. In fact, after a quick word with Frostbite during one of their breaks, his people were told to give me a wider berth when I explained that otherwise I couldn't be held responsible for what would happen if any one of them said or did something careless that resulted in me losing my temper. My temper was already threadbare as it is! Therefor the guards were only to confront me in the event that I turned on them or their precious _'Great One.'_

Hmph, as if I have anything to gain anymore from being Daniel's enemy.

That being said, I may be a _'guest'_ here, and while I certainly did not want to start another pointless battle like the one I fought to get their attention, they were right to fear me. When it came to Daniel, whether we were fighting or I was trying to convince him to see that he was better off with me, there were times when I was unable to keep my emotions in check. And as of right now I'll openly admit that I was seething inside about a lot of things. Such as being forced to sit on the sidelines, being surrounded by nothing but a wasteland of snow and ice when we could be enjoying all the luxuries of my castle, being subject to even colder stares from the Far Frozen themselves, and finally, the thing that bothered me the most is the simple and rather dangerous fact that I never took into consideration that this Dan character was lurking somewhere here in the Ghost Zone and he now had easier access to Daniel's subconscious, which he was already attempting to invade from the moment he sensed the boy enter this realm.

I knew coming here would have it's own set of risks, but I didn't expect anything bad to happen to him so unexpectedly since Daniel seemed to be recovering normally. Looks like I was mistaken. Last night after our discussion when I followed him outside invisibly before announcing my presence -because yes I lied about that because the truth is I hadn't been able to sleep a wink anyway since I was so concerned about my little badger and felt this overwhelming need to keep an eye on him for his own protection- I stayed with him for a long time even after Daniel fell asleep because it was fitful at best and his expression was pained.

Daniel obviously has no memory of this, nor did I think it necessary to tell him and embarrass the poor boy, but after awhile I began idly stroking his raven hair which helped him uncoil his tense muscles and relax. He did the same thing unconsciously while bedridden and feverish when my dear Maddie curled up on his chest, purring. Like any child, Daniel seemed to feel comforted by a gentle reassuring touch and the soft tone I used while telling him how proud I was that we've even made it this far together; about the hope that after this we could finally have our official fresh start together, and that I wanted nothing more then for him to feel at home, and safe again.

I'm fairly sure that subconsciously Daniel heard every word, which is why his expression gradually melded into one of confusion and then...calm for what seemed the first time in ages. That's when his pale hand reached up and rested over mine before it fell limply and at last...a peaceful slumber enveloped him. It was only then that I finally returned to my own chambers and allowed sheer weariness to rob me of my senses and give me a few hours of rest myself.

The Fright Knight was right. He really was afraid of his power. This wasn't just about physical exertion, which I had already suspected. I could tell just from how poorly Daniel was performing during Frostbite's training sessions when I knew for a fact that he was better then this. But that was precisely WHY doing this was so important. Unlike his other powers this was about gaining control over his core element, and up until now that power hasn't been focused properly nor had matured enough to manifest itself to such an extreme as to nearly freeze him to death. We can only count ourselves lucky that this happened now rather then when he was still with his parents. Because I can tell you right now that the ramifications wouldn't have differed from the ones that brought him to me...

Like that gun wound that hurt both his human and ghost form, this condition of his would have been impossible to hide from them. That is why as troubled as I was by the abrupt turn his condition took, I decided to look for the silver-lining. In the end I was still far more qualified to help him as both a human and a hybrid. I could help him finally find some stability in his life at home, which was now with me, and with the rest of his powers which were still growing at an alarming rate. This was a rare exception to the rule, nothing more. We were simply seeing a specialist that knew more about his specific ghost problems and now thanks to him I knew exactly what to do if this ever happened again, which it shouldn't because it only happened because his body was weak and I misjudged his symptoms and gave him the wrong treatment.

He simply needed an outlet for all that excess cold his body was self-generating.

Speaking of which, as his training continued, I noticed that Daniel was gradually regained some confidence but there was a hint of hesitation in his movement that I could not understand. He already knew he couldn't hurt them with his powers. They were immune to the cold and absorbed any ambient cold energy from around them too just like Daniel does along with standard ecto-energy. The only difference is that as hybrids we self-generate our own energy too. So why then did Daniel look so...apprehensive when Frostbite told him that as a final test they would have a mock-battle to apply everything he had learned?

Taking a deep breath Daniel raised his hand poised to strike when-! Suddenly there was a bright flash of blue light, a scream of outrage, possibly pain, and without a second thought I was beside him in seconds to assess the damage. Rather then releasing the raw energy from his hand, from the look of it Daniel had tried pulling that energy back within himself. Normally that would have worked, or if he'd been smart he could have simply allowed the energy to dissipate, but this was not the same type of energy. Once his core energy built up enough it had to be released or it would harm the user, which it just did. His arm was frozen to the shoulder and this ice was longer lasting then any normal variety which meant...

"Daniel, what in blazes were you thinking?! That attack wouldn't have harmed Frostbite, so why did you hold back?! You know better than that, I know it," I glowered, waiting for Frostbite to close the distance on foot since he had taken position at the far side of the arena to test the range of Daniel's attack.

Daniel was on his knees in the snow, his other hand clutching the frozen limb and charging it with ecto-energy to shatter it, but I could tell he was exhausted from all these training exercises and was reaching his limit. Still, there was a fire in his eyes when he looked at me and scoffed, "Cool your jets Plasmius, the attack felt too strong that's all and I didn't want to freeze half the tribe again. I can still do it if I try again, just give me a minute to free my-grah!"

With a grunt Daniel shattered the ice with a normal ecto-energy blast from his hand and then flexed his fingers again before supporting himself on one knee to stand. But his limbs were stiff and trembling from overexertion just as I feared and a cold sweat beaded his brow, betraying how he really felt. So before Frostbite could reach us and ask what went wrong I pulled Daniel to his feet by his now freed arm and skillfully maneuvered him close to me by the shoulders protectively before he could walk off.

Once Frostbite was close enough I angrily snapped, "Alright, now this has gone on long enough! As capable as Daniel is I think what he really needs at this point is rest. What you've already taught him up until this point will just have to suffice. Thank you for your time, Frostbite but I think it's about time we left."

Glaring at me Daniel tried to shrug me off and said, "Vlad what's gotten into you? I told you, I'm fine. I can still do it! I got a little...distracted. But that's all! So what's the big deal!? Why are you acting so much like-" His flinch didn't escape my notice nor Frostbite's as he eyed him just as carefully as I had before finally speaking...

Though what he said next caught us both by surprise.

"No, he is right Great One. I have given you all the tools you need to control this new power, and now it is up to you to master their use on your own terms. Should you need further assistance however, Plasmius knows where to find us and what to do in the event of your core generating too much cold for you to handle. Though it should be a simple matter of releasing that pent up energy when too much builds up inside of your core for your human half to withstand. Always remember this Danny Phantom, you control the power, it does not control you. The same applies to your fate..." his eyes softened and Frostbite glanced at me before nodding to himself and further explaining, "I understand that you have recently gone through a great many changes in your life back on Earth as of late and that they trouble you deeply. This I cannot help you with. Neither can Plasmius, nor anyone else. No. It is something you must overcome on your own. Fear is natural Danny Phantom, but fighting despite the fear is what makes one strong and what will give you the strength you need to overcome it. It will take time, but I believe in you. You however, must learn to start believing in yourself again and know that power itself is not to be feared. It need only to be used for the right reasons. Everything must have balance. And right now your life itself is out of balance which is why I would suggest returning home now that we've succeeded with our goal of teaching you more about yourself," kneeling down on one knee to reach Daniel's eye level, Frostbite gently rested a claw underneath his chin and raised it, smiling, and finished his boring little speech with, "I sincerely hope your visit to our humble village has shown you that you still have allies, even in the most unlikely of places. Do not hesitate to call upon them again should the need arise because you are not as alone as you have come to believe. For now though, if rest is truly what you need then I would suggest you gather your belongings and I shall escort you both home shortly."

Daniel opened his mouth to argue but then decided against it and sighed in defeat, shrugging out from under my possessive grip and skirting around Frostbite's looming form before flying off towards the caverns. Although by _'belongings'_ Daniel shouldn't have anything but the clothes on his back. That is, if you don't count my spare cape he'd been using to retain heat under their fur blankets...

Knowing Frostbite had another reason for sending Daniel away I crossed my arms and smirked slyly, "Very clever, playing the concerned friend card. Don't get me wrong, that was a lovely speech. But we both know that last comment was directed at me wasn't it? You still don't trust me not to take advantage of this situation. And rightly so. Let me make this clear. We are NOT friends, Frostbite. I used you to save him, nothing more, which in the end is what we both wanted. I want him to stay by my side from now on, not go gallivanting around anymore playing the hero and putting his life at risk. So what I do with Daniel after this is really none of your concern."

"And what do you want, O Fanged One?" Frostbite asked me, his tone genuinely curious and unguarded. "I heard you speaking with him last night, though I did not hear most of what was said. However, it's clear to me that Danny Phantom has been feeling ill at ease as of late and it is not because of you, is it? Otherwise why would he confide and accept comfort from you if you were the cause of his duress? We may have had our differences in the past, but something has changed. That much is clear. The question is why? Why have you changed? Is it because of him? Or does he simply have something you want and you intend on deceiving him like before? If so then I beg of you to reconsider..." staring off in the direction where Daniel flew off with his yellow eyes, Frostbite's tone grew somber and he told me, "No human child should live as close to death as he does and carry such a weight on his shoulders. He's still so young. And despite all that he has accomplished this past year Danny Phantom does not yet know that the true enemy is usually born from the darkness that we create in ourselves, as you well know. I could tell that whatever it is that troubles him especially right now is the reason why he stayed his hand during that last attack; that fear clouds his mind like a mist making it hard to see what lies on the path ahead. He is lost, Plasmius, a lost soul trying to find his place in the world. And there is something evil trying to lead him down a dark path of his own volition. That is why I can only pray that I am right about you. That you are truly his ally now will help him find his place and sense of purpose again. Because without purpose, what is the point of being alive?"


	44. No Rest For The Wicked

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 43: No Rest For The Wicked

* * *

Vlad's POV

Using the word _"tension"_ hardly seemed an adequate term to describe what Daniel and I felt when we both tiredly bid Frostbite farewell and wasted no time entering my portal to return to our own realm only to be met by complete silence. As for Daniel he was obviously still exhausted and almost listless as he wordlessly allowed me to guide him safely back to his room. He'd only seen it once after all. Not to mention there was also the fact that quite a few changes have been made to this new castle which meant that it was very likely that both of us would eventually have to learn the layout as time went on to better make ourselves at home. It was a shame the grand reveal had been ruined by his sudden cold attack, but a small smile played on my lips when I saw how Daniel wasted no time making himself at home by unceremoniously falling onto his bed backwards with a slight bounce.

As to be expected Daniel wasn't used to owning such a luxurious bed and a sigh of contentment escaped his lips. Normally I would have expected him to fall fast asleep within seconds of laying down given everything that's happened but then -as if remembering something important at the last minute- Daniel groaned and reluctantly propped himself up with some effort. Afterwards Daniel took a deep breath and sighed, "Listen, I'm sorry for snapping at you before we left Frostbite's. I guess you were right about being too hard on myself, but mostly you were right about just being flat out tired. Speaking of which you look kinda dead on your feet too V-man," he said with a boyish smirk. "Bet you're glad to be back among the living too huh?"

Rolling my eyes at his playful jab I replied, "Always with the quips hmm Daniel? I suppose it's good to see you back in high spirits as well my boy. Though sadly unlike yourself I cannot afford the luxury of a good nap just yet. Our last adventure left quite the mess down in the laboratory and while I obviously have counter measures in place just in case I am absent for longer then expected, the fact is that we were -or rather I was- absent from the rest of the world for two days straight. As such I need to touch base with several people such as the movers who should be done loading everything else from my mansion in Amity Park into the moving trucks by now. And on a more personal note I believe I should see whether or not Jasmine has any news regarding your parents and their latest ghost hunting escapade..."

Daniel winced slightly at the mention of his parents which was to be expected, but I attempted to belay those fears by explaining that I'd left Jasmine with a rather useful gift that would help her keep an eye on them and any ghost activity they were involved with now that they had reopened the ghost portal. At first Daniel seemed a little suspicious of my motives, and about the fact that I had built his sister a personal laptop with all these extra features that allowed her to filter ghost activity and track it until I further explained this was part of my agreement to help keep her as well as his parents safe from harm...

That knowledge seemed to help Daniel relax a little but then he asked when it would be safe to call her and some of his previous anxiety returned. I anticipated this question of course, but for now we still had other things to worry about. For one thing Daniel needed to get plenty of rest after this last ordeal because he still looked too pale for my liking and it wasn't just from spending two days in that sad excuse of a village tucked away in the forgotten corners of the Ghost Zone. And for another he had recently been subjected to yet another psychological attack by Dan and thus Daniel was very susceptible to his fear once again clouding his judgment, which in that regard at least I agreed with Frostbite was a very serious problem he would ultimately have to overcome on his own. That did not mean however that I was going to turn a blind eye to it, if anything I was going to do everything within my power to help him reach that point where the old high-strung young man I wanted to one day call my son to shine through.

As far as contacting his sister was concerned, I told him, "I'm afraid that's not a good idea Daniel, it's still too soon to risk it. Though if we keep it brief I suppose I'll see if something can be arranged before too long. Just remember, you're still considered a missing person who was reportedly abducted by a ghost; though only your parents believe it was the doing of your own alter-ego as Phantom. That's why we can't risk anyone aside from those who are directly involved with this matter -or at least know the truth about your situation- finding out they've been in contact with you. These things take time, Daniel. And right now you need to use that time to focus on yourself and your needs." Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath to disguise my own fatigue as exasperation I continued. "Please just...let me take care of things my way until they settle down alright? It's for your own good and I promise to avoid doing anything too...illegal. We've already paid the price for both of our mistakes. I don't want to repeat my most recent mistake any time soon and I trust you don't either which is why we need to take things slow and act with caution. At any rate, get some rest and I'll come get you when-"

"I understand," Daniel cut me off, unable to hide his disappointment. "When you talk to her though just tell her to be careful too. I'm worried about what's going to happen once the jerks I usually face find out I'm MIA. Let's just hope your ghost shields do the tr-trick..." he stifled a yawn and then blinked slowly, clearly struggling to stay awake.

Taking pity on the boy I nodded with a sly smirk, "You underestimate me as usual. Though to me it was only a mild gesture rest assured that I'll keep my word. Only because keeping your loved ones safe will in turn ensure that you, dear Daniel, won't go running off and getting yourself killed," my smile fading I looked at him again with a gentle yet troubled expression and said, "And I don't want you to die little badger. Not on my watch."

Smiling sadly in return, Daniel replied, "I know that now. I think it's kind of ironic that this time I'm actually grateful that you're not giving up on...keeping me...around..."

Unwillingly he trailed off and when his arms gave way Daniel fell back onto the bed again, sound asleep in a rather comically childish position so like so many times before I tucked him into bed and turned off the lights, activating the ghost shield. Although this one was only designed to keep unwanted visitors out of his chambers rather then keeping him confined inside; at least not unless the situation demanded it again. It gave me as much peace of mind as I'm sure it would to Daniel in the coming days...

Speaking of which once I closed the door behind me a soft groan escaped my lips when I thought of the list of things I had to take care of. I was more than capable of doing so but these tasks were tedious at best. Oh well, as they say _'no rest for the wicked'_ because contrary to what I told Daniel, while I did plan on keeping his loved ones safe -mainly his sister- I couldn't wait to hear whether or not his parents had had a taste of their own medicine and realized the ghost-fighting hero they so despised was the only thing standing between their deplorable little town and total domination by ghosts.

Oh yes soon they would learn the error of their ways and have no choice but to acknowledge just how good they had it without the constant fear their children dealt with at their expense almost every day both inside and outside of their home. The same applied for Daniel's friends, whom I'm sure by now were regretting treating their best friend in such a cruel way, especially now that that jock Dash Baxter was in all likelihood now targeting Mr. Foley with his bullying now that his favorite Danny Fenton victim was absent.

That's the only reason why I actually looked forward to checking in on Amity Park. To know that the rest of them were getting a small taste of the burdens Daniel shouldered for their sake which now no longer existed. From now on Daniel would get plenty of rest, proper meals, education, and most of all, safety. Namely he would receive all the luxuries it had taken me years to obtain for myself without having to fight so hard. Sadly, his only real enemy was himself just as Frostbite observed before...Only, it was in more ways then one. And I would not rest until that obstacle was eliminated too.

* * *

Between moving forward with my plans for Axion Labs and their research on ghost-shields, making calls to my various other businesses to make sure things were running smoothly, listening to the useless prattling of imbeciles making excuses for why they were so late loading my belongings into moving trucks since a certain trio of ghost vultures decided to hinder their progress when they mistook them as thieves, I'll admit that even my patience was wearing thin. Why did everyone around me just seem so incompetent? I swear it was as though I was the only intelligent life on this miserable planet AND in the Ghost Zone!

I had no choice but to summon those three here to keep them out of trouble since I was too busy concerning myself with Daniel then telling them to lay low or about the fact that I was leaving Amity Park and I PAID those movers to be there. No wonder they'd been delayed, they thought my mansion was haunted! While it's true that my castle had that reputation as well at least the ghost they believed was responsible was something to be feared. Those vulture's were little more then glorified carrier pigeons relaying messages for me and keeping Daniel distracted whenever I was in the middle of plotting against him or his father. But as of right now they'd made a nuisance of themselves, and while the last of my possessions didn't hold any sentimental value they were still mine and I would not have them scaring off the people I hired to transport them and have priceless antiques shattered because of those three feather-brained stooges!

At least things were going well at Axion Labs and my faith in Valerie Gray's father and his skills were well founded indeed though it was slightly disconcerting that his daughter had taken the news of Daniel's disappearance quite hard and was taking her anger out on any and every ghost that crossed her path against his wishes. While I admired her passion she was still a teenager too and obviously wasn't sure how to handle her grief when all she wanted was to run off and search for her missing friend as much as Daniel's parents did. However the increase in ghost activity had forced her to take a more active role filling the void Danny Phantom had left which seemed to frustrate her even more despite hating everything he stood for.

Again, much like the Fenton's, her anger was misdirected and really there was no one to blame but themselves that the ghosts they were facing were growing emboldened and violent. Especially since they failed to heed my advice of focusing on defensive measures rather then offensive which only provoked more attacks from ghosts that were only there to enjoy the pleasures of this earthly realm. From what I heard, even Johnny 13, that greasy haired biker ghost and his female companion Kitty had taken a thrashing from the Red Huntress while out on a joy ride over when she nearly totaled his precious motorbike with a well-aimed laser blast.

Aside from that nothing serious seems to have happened. At least if you don't count Jack and Maddie arriving on the scene after the fact and threatening both ghosts to find out where Danny Phantom was. Thankfully thanks to his bad luck ghost they escaped but I could only hope Johnny knew better than to run his mouth and spread gossip that could potentially draw in ghosts too powerful for any of them to handle. That's why as an added measure I asked the Fright Knight to put as much fear of retaliation against anyone who took things too far and harmed Danny Phantom's loved ones into everyone he came across so they knew better then to overstep themselves while messing around that town. I realize that will only work for so long but at least it would be long enough to let Axion Labs do their job to provide the public with home security systems against the more dangerous ghosts until they came up with a permanent solution which again was as simple as the Fenton's closing or possibly disposing of their ghost portal which, lets face it, if they didn't get rid of it after the accident that ruined their former best friend's life and then hospitalized their own son, that was never going to happen.

Rubbing my temples in small circles since a mild headache was beginning to form I impatiently walked to my office where I planned to wait for those bird-brains to arrive, but thankful I didn't have to wait long until one of them phased through the roof and the other two followed close behind. Really sometimes I did wonder why I kept them around and had to remind myself it was because they had their uses and were too stupid to betray me. Otherwise I would have dismissed them ages ago...

"There you are, it's about time," I scowled, uninterested in wasting any pleasantries on them since I was extremely displeased with their recent blunder as well as something else they did a few weeks ago.

As it turned out, the last time a ghost was stupid enough to ram into my ghost shield while it was active when they should have sensed it and avoided it was actually these three doe-does. They were the reason that Daniel had unconsciously transformed to _'deal with the threat'_ that time which had also resulted in some annoying setbacks. That was why I would not stand for a third from them. Not when so much was on the line! Namely, my reputation with Daniel and as well as a public figure which I didn't want people thinking that any other ghost aside from the crafty yet handsome Wisconsin ghost haunted my steps. At least they thought THAT supposed ghost feared the mighty Vlad Masters. What I didn't want them thinking was that I couldn't even protect my home from three random bird ghosts...not when they were looking to me for the technology to protect themselves from both the more powerful and less powerful specters that haunted their entire bloody town!

As soon as all three of them were visible I didn't hold back. In anger I blasted the nearest wall with enough raw energy to singe the edge of their feathers and gave them a piece of my mind and told them exactly everything they were doing wrong. They could have fled of course but knew it'd only be worse for them if they did so the old crones hung their heads low and allowed me to berate them mercilessly for their serious lack of common sense and impatience to contact me when I was otherwise deeply engaged with something more important. And I told them as much. That Daniel was with me now and I intended to keep it that way since we were on better terms now that I saved his life and offered him protection from a more serious threat which I would otherwise keep unnamed for now since it was none of their concern unless I ordered them to do something related to the issue.

Once I calmed down to a more reasonable level I rubbed my temples again and told them for the umpteenth time, "Need I remind you that I have explicitly told you over a DOZEN times, if you have an urgent message for me that you are only to contact me through the Ghost Zone, NOT here were Daniel or someone else could have seen you. If you're that bored just, I don't know, go see if Skulker has any use for you tracking down new prey or something and stop bothering me! I don't have time for you! Now get out of-?!" A sudden wave of vertigo tilted my perception and I wobbled a bit. Shaking it off I straightened up again and noticed the three of them give each other a skeptical look before wondering aloud-

"So...now vhat? Does he not vant us to tell him vhat ve heard after all?"

"I guess not, but maybe ze boss is just grumpy...he looks vorse than ve do and ve're 2000yrs old!"

Their leader, the one in the middle wacked them both upside the head and snapped, "Of course he vants to hear it you dolt! It's vhat ve do! But zhis is not a good time so come on boyz, the boss needs to get some sleep and you two are being loud!"

"I don't-" I began but the second one cut me off with a huff and crossed his feathered arms.

"Like you're one to talk! Don't tell us vhat to do vhen you're the one who suggested we ram zhe ghost shield to get his attention sooner before ve lost track of him! Ve looked like any other idiot birds who run into a newly cleaned vindshield or a vindow!"

"Vell you're just as stupid for going along with him," the third grumbled, noticing I was getting angry again and getting fidgety. "I told you both ve should vait but ze ghost boy was missing too and couldn't send us to zhe Ghost Zone through his portal vhich vas locked! And zhose fancy-smansy ghost hunters, the ghost boys parents, alvays keep zhat thing open! By zhe time we found a natural portal-"

"Enough!" I snapped, my eyes flashing and they all shrunk back from me. "I'll deal with you three later. For now just go back to Amity Park and keep an eye out for anything unusual around Fenton Works and make sure Miss Gray doesn't do anything too drastic either and get herself killed. Their portal is open now so you should have easy access again if you're careful. For now just get out of my sight before I feed you to the Behemoth!"

"Alright alright ve're going! But seriously boss you look like more of a corpse zhen ve do so it might do you some good to-"

With another warning shot they screeched and flew off, leaving me to stand there glowering until I happened to look at the mirror beside me and was taken aback by what I saw reflected there. My usual sleeked back hair was unkempt and strands of silver had fallen in my face, and those shadows under my eyes, good lord they DID make me look like a man possessed! Looking closer I could have sworn in this light my hair looked more white than silver, almost as if I had aged another ten years. It was absolutely appalling...

However there were still a more things to take care of. Many things that couldn't wait any longer. That's why I had to use this time wisely because once Daniel awoke we needed to figure out where to go from here as far as living together from now on. He'd already slept through almost an entire day due to sheer exhaustion while I on the other hand had kept myself busy so I wouldn't worry so much and entertain this horrible fear of Daniel lapsing into a coma. It was irrational I know, but after what happened recently even my confidence was shaken and I wasn't sure what other changes to expect from the boy because of his rapidly expanding ghost powers. For heaven's sake I still haven't been able to figure out if it was really true that he may possess the ability to MAKE his own portals into the Ghost Zone! I had only seen him attempt to do so and my super computer confirmed it on his power readings after I caught my first glimpse of this infamous Dan, who was still a threat to my little badger that I had ALSO had yet to deal with.

Either way my primary focus was getting our current situation back under control so I could focus my attention on Daniel, who was quite clearly trying his best to hide how shaken he was by recent events by acting like his usual nauseatingly-heroic and pun-slinging self. But I knew better, and he wasn't fooling anyone. There has to be something I can do to prevent Dan from mentally assaulting the boy again. It doesn't matter yet if it's completely full-proof, but it at least has to work well enough to give him SOME protection until I cut this connection off at the source or found some other way to keep that freak's influence away from his subconscious. For now all I could do was watch over Daniel and do what I could to help him regain his balance and truly become his old self again, minus the senseless fighting for survival of course day in and day out. So perhaps it was time that I checked on Jasmine to see if she had any more helpful insights concerning her little brother...

* * *

" _Vlad? Hello...?_ " Jasmine suddenly commented, jarring me back to reality.

Pinching the bridge of my nose and shaking my head I sighed, "Yes, my apologies Jasmine. I lost my train of thought. So I take it the device is running smoothly and you've been able to monitor your parents ghost hunting activities from afar without too much trouble?"

Jasmine was silent for a moment, gathering her thoughts before she continued grimly, " _That depends on what you mean by trouble. Since they said they wanted to help fight ghosts to make it up to Danny for being such jerks -and I needed to pass along his message to them anyway- I invited Tucker and Sam over to the hotel so we could talk. And when I told them you gave me the laptop I'm not sure if Tucker was just geeking out over the fact that it was custom-built or if he was flipping it around because he was checking it for hidden bugs. I had to explain to them, again, that I already agreed to keep you in the loop because even if you hate my dad and as hard as all of this must be for Danny, we still don't want anything bad to happen to our parents. But big shock they still went back to hunting ghosts when they argued that the ghost-shield research was '_ taking too long' _and they needed to take the fight to the ghosts and go back to demanding they tell us where Danny Phantom is hiding my brother. I tried to explain that part of that delay is because you're still getting settled down again back in Wisconsin while also supposedly busy tracking down my brother as well through more mundane means. We knew this would happen eventually though but since they know I won't come home until they stop putting themselves at risk they only go out on patrol every other day when they think I'm busy studying at a friend's house. Anyways Sam and Tucker still aren't convinced you're not trying to pull a fast one on us, but since Danny can't come home I told them it's still better then him being out in the streets somewhere being hunted by the Guys in White or something after hearing he's been possessed by the famous Danny Phantom. At least they realize that much and know that even you wouldn't want them getting their hands on another half ghost then connecting the dots that there's another one out there. Still...how is he doing anyway? You sound tired. Did something happen again?_ "

"Nothing I couldn't handle," I told her dismissively which resulted in a huff on her end of the phone and a roll of the eyes I could not see.

With a surprisingly gentle and motherly tone she advises, " _Vlad...I know you think you're all powerful but admit it, where it counts you're still just as human as Danny is. How do you expect him to start taking better care of himself if you're being a poor example? We grew up learning how to fend for ourselves and since mom and dad tend to over-parent when they do finally notice something is wrong and they all but ignored us the rest of the time. That and whenever Danny would get upset or cry they'd tell him to man up so instead of telling them how he really feels Danny hides it just like you do and tries to shoulder it all by himself, to fight through the pain whether its because of something that happened at school or a ghost nearly snapped his arm in half. Not accepting help when you need it is dangerous. So whether you want it or not here's some of my nosy advice: get some sleep Vlad. You're no good to yourself or Danny if you don't take care of yourself too. If something serious does happen you need to be on your A-game, got it? So just, promise me you won't overdo it alright? Do what you can at a reasonable pace and don't spread yourself thin trying to fix a lifetime of problems that doesn't all have to do with ghosts and ghost hunting. He needs you Vlad. And I need you to be there for him since I can't be...not this time._ "

I didn't realize it until that moment but Jasmine really meant it when she said she was depending on me to take care of Daniel. The longing and loneliness in her voice touched me deeply. She really was concerned about my well-being as well, not just her brother although understandably he took priority. That's what we both agreed on from the beginning. And perhaps she was right...even I was hitting my limit and if Dan or anyone else sensed that weakness in our defenses they will exploit it. I had been caught off guard more then once due to poor planning and rushing into things. For Daniel's sake I needed to be more careful from now on, otherwise the next mistake may very well cost him his life. A life, I now held in my hands that for the first time since we met I was truly terrified of losing...

Adopting a mirthful tone I finally relented, "Oh alright, point taken. Those three flying pests of mine were telling me I looked like the living dead as well, and now you too. I suppose taking one night for myself couldn't hurt, and I do have a ghost shield over Daniel's room just like at my mansion in Amity. Thank you Jasmine. I'll contact you again soon since I have some other questions regarding your brother. Oh and if by chance Mr. Foley attempts to hack into your laptop to try and get any hidden information about me or my _'evil plots'_ feel free to tell him I have a virus encoded on there for emergencies that is designed to erase any and all related data he obtains about ghosts of any sort on ALL connected devices. And it is no idle threat that it will also leave a nasty surprise for him or anyone else that tries to do the same as a reminder not to meddle in our affairs until when and if I reach out to them on Daniel's behalf. Goodnight Jasmine."

" _...Um, right, goodnight Vlad."_ Jasmine replied, sounding slightly unnerved but that didn't bother me as long as the message came across. From now on I wasn't going to allow ANYONE to hurt my little badger again, not his friends, his family, his enemies, no one. Though in many ways...the person who needed to be especially careful not to hurt him inadvertently through reckless actions and thoughtless comments, was me.


	45. We're Only Half-Human

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (8/16/2018):** Hey guys, just a quick heads up but I have now completed a FULL trailer for this story over on my tumblr "The Soul's Pulse" so please, go give it some love since I worked really hard on that on that for days, even pulling two all nighters! Sort of like I did for this chapter too come to think of it. But this chapter has another important scene for the character development for both our beloved halfa's so I'd love to hear your thoughts. If not, at least enjoy what I came up with with the help of my amazing beta-reader! And lastly before I end this note, I got another commission done by Amethyst-Ocean of my Danny Phantom Oc, Owen Ravenwood from my other fanfic so be sure to check that out too since her work as always is amazing!

* * *

Chapter 44: We're Only Half-Human

 _(Chapter inspired by Human by Manafest)_

* * *

Danny's POV

After getting over the initial _'where am I and how'd I get here'_ panic attack I had when I woke up and didn't recognize anything, in my groggy brain I immediately blamed Vlad for taking me somewhere weird again while I was out cold. That is, until I remembered a few minutes later that oh, right, we're sort of living together now. And I only say _'weird_ ' because I had to blink a few times to make sure that I was really awake when I saw a sea of stars directly overhead. Other then that I have to admit this was an incredible room.

Like I said though, for a horrible moment I seriously thought I had wandered outside in my sleep like a zombie until I noticed the soft fabric of the blankets wrapped snugly around me and felt the warm sheets against my cheek and that's when I finally grasped that I was still safely indoors, not in the middle of nowhere. Either way I suppose I was as safe as I was ever going to be around Vlad because despite everything he's done for me I had a bad feeling it was only a matter of time before he tried to use all this cool stuff to tempt me into staying with him forever, and never going home again...

For now though, aside from the temptation I had to go back to sleep, I actually felt better than I have in weeks. No waking up from bad dreams or my ghost sense going off; no soreness all over my body from coming back home at 4am covered with cuts and bruises from a fight or tossing and turning restlessly in bed all night; no waking up drenched in sweat choking on a scream; nothing. It was like I'd never known what a good night's sleep even was up until now. And it was kind of true since the other thing that usually woke me up was something exploding, my dad screaming _'ghost'_ , or my ghost sense going off, meaning I had to go off and fight a real one whereas the one my dad was screaming about was usually a false alarm.

Speaking of which, what time was it anyway?

Searching around the room for an alarm clock I saw that Vlad had bought me this slender black one with glowing green numbers. Well, at least it stood out from the rest of the room that was strictly space-themed. I guess Vlad really did do his homework; although I had to wonder how much of his info was from his good old stalker days verses how much my sister told him. From the look of things, and what I remembered him telling me before those stupid chills made me pass out, I'm guessing my sister probably told him about the more specific things I liked since some of these decorations were exact duplicates of the NASA and Dumpty Humpty posters I had hanging on the walls of my bedroom back home...

Home. I felt a small pang of loneliness in my chest even thinking about it so I shook it off for now since I had better things to do. For one thing it was still early according to the clock and...after doing a double-take of the date it looks like I've been asleep for at least an entire day since we came back from the Ghost Zone. Well crap, no wonder I was starving! I didn't exactly smell like a rose either so after prying myself away from the fluffy folds of my new comforter I decided to take a shower before I did anything else and change clothes.

It felt so bizarre having my own private bathroom, but at the same time it was also kinda cool since Jazz, like most girls, seemed to live in there a third of their lives just doing their hair and makeup which didn't give me as much time to get ready before rushing off to meet up with Sam and Tucker to walk to school together. At least she always made sure to leave enough hot water for me; ok well, at least she did most of the time. Anyways even the bathroom was high-tech and flamboyant enough that all of it was top notch like some glitzy hotel. The mirror over the sink had it's own back-light; the step-in shower had two different options you could choose from, choosing between using the extendable nozzle mounted to the wall or standing under a pair of shower-heads directly in the middle of the shower where the water would fall around you almost like a mini waterfall; opposite of the sink was a solid black jacuzzi tub that was so big that took up almost a third of the room; and lastly, the floor was covered with these glossy black tiles that even if you didn't turn off the light there were these small fiber-optic lights inlaid into the floor to made it look like you were walking among the stars.

I tried not to think about it too much but I was feeling a little overwhelmed by all of this. Vlad had already done more than enough for me just giving me a roof over my head and making sure I didn't die horribly from my injuries and my ghost core going critical. I mean I knew he was rich but I never expected him to waste any of his money on me even if I did join him willingly, although this was something entirely different. Strictly speaking I haven't _'joined'_ him but...what were we now anyway? Friends? Allies? I wasn't sure anymore because while I've managed to forgive him for a lot lately since he's shown me that he has and can change, Vlad's still up to his old tricks when it comes to proving he's a better dad then mine is. I flinched at the memory of my dad's angry face as he shot me in the shoulder that day and cranked up the heat of the water when a shutter rippled through me and I reflexively reached for my now-old wound. But then I thought back on whenever Vlad shot an energy blast at me and it was almost the opposite, aside from that look of loathing he gave me and Dani when we destabilized his best clone of me, Vlad usually wore this cocky smile on his face like he was secretly challenging me to outsmart him or a look of concentration like he was actually gauging my progress, like he was actually paying attention.

Shutting the water off entirely I stood there for a minute and thought, "Just because Vlad actually pays attention to how well or bad I'm doing, does that really make up for him actively choosing to beat the crap out of me before? At least whenever my dad shot me he didn't know it was me, his son Danny Fenton. Is it better to hurt someone you love by accident or do it on purpose and try to make up for it later? Can I...really forgive Vlad for the crap he put me through too so easily just because he gave me all this? I don't feel like I deserve a room like this, let alone one that was designed just for me. I haven't done anything to earn it. So how can I accept it...? Darn it!"

Feeling frustrated about all this I angrily stepped out of the shower and dried off before picking out one of the temporary outfits Vlad bought for me before he took my measurements and made up my mind to go find him and talk about all this. I needed to thank him anyway, but I was starting to feel like Vlad was already giving me way too much. Honestly despite the bad blood between us from the time we spent in his castle before I got it torn down and he had to rebuild it into the one we were in now I really might feel more comfortable staying in one of his other guest rooms since this was all supposed to be temporary anyway. I didn't want to give him any false hope that I was going to stay, as much as he clearly still wanted me to.

I couldn't be that cruel to him.

* * *

As expected, within minutes of stepping out of my room I was already hopelessly lost. I was tempted to change into my ghost form to look for him that way but wasn't sure I wanted to risk it since I still felt a little weak and hadn't had anything to eat yet. The last thing we needed was to have me stuck half-phased in a nearby wall unable to move until I regained some energy and could go through the rest of the way. At least there was no worry about being buried alive since even at our weakest whenever we phased through something our bodies would stay intangible so that we didn't get a limb chopped off or something, and believe me I used to freak out about that happening when I kept randomly having parts of my body phase through stuff.

With a heavy sigh I closed my eyes when I realized that at this point I didn't even know how to backtrack to my new room and was about to give up searching and change when I bumped into someone and rubbed my forehead. And since there was only one someone living here I could only assume it was Vlad. When I opened my eyes I was proven right, though he looked surprised to see me up and about.

"Ah, Daniel, I was hoping you'd be up soon," Vlad smiled, resting his hands behind his back. "I apologize for not waking you sooner but I had some things to take care of like I explained to you before. And frankly, our little trip to the Ghost Zone took more out of me than even I expected and your sister gave me a light scolding when I last spoke with her. At any rate, are you finding everything to your liking? I realize you didn't get to hear much of my explanation of the features I have installed in your room so if there's anything you're unsure about please, don't hesitate to ask."

I opened my mouth to reply but didn't know what to say so I stared at my feet. This was still way too weird! Him being all nice and it feeling...real. I was so used to expecting the worst of him but now...how could I face him and be honest about my own feelings? I wanted to trust him, but knew it'd be stupid to hand over that kind of trust so easily because of our past. Vlad saved my life true, he did it more than once, but he also PUT it in danger more than once and honestly how safe was I here either?

Troubled by my silence his smile faded and he asked me, "Is something wrong Daniel?"

"Yeah, actually there is!" I suddenly blurted out, stepping back from him before he could touch me on the shoulder and console me. "Vlad, I'm not sure how I feel about all of this. I knew you were rich, but I've never gotten to experience being anywhere like this before, at least now without you trapping me down in your lab or I came here to stop some other petty scheme of yours. It's just, a lot to take in. Vlad, you own a CASTLE! Do you realize how crazy that is to say?! And this is your THIRD one built on the same plot of land where we first met only a year ago! I just don't feel like any of this is something I've earned or should have in the first place. I know that I've been here before in one form or another, but I only saw so much of this place each time I've come here and it never really sunk in how massive it is. And correct me if I'm wrong but this new one seems to be even bigger than the last one! Vlad, I'm...not sure if I feel worthy of having even an OUNCE of this. I don't feel comfortable accepting that room you gave me because of that either. It feels wrong."

Unphased by my outburst, Vlad was quiet for a minute before he smiled softly and assured me calmly, "Nonsense my dear boy. You've more than earned this. Would you like to know how I know this? It's because for your entire life, you've put up with so much from the people you should have felt safe with. And after obtaining your ghost powers unlike me you selflessly decided to constantly put your own life on the line repeatedly for a town that still doesn't appreciate you and parents that never understood you. And most of all, up until now you've managed to maintain a sunny disposition and face it all with courage and strength, which are the very qualities that I've grown to love about you. Daniel, if I didn't think you were worth it, I wouldn't have risked going to those fuzz-faced allies of yours in the Ghost Zone for help in the first place. Especially since I know they despise me and most likely never would have helped me were it not a matter concerning you. This may surprise you to hear but you've already proven your worth to me LONG before any of this, little badger. As such in my eyes it's high time someone rewarded you for your valiant efforts and the sacrifices you've made for the sake of your loved ones AND even many of the ghosts who have since become your allies; because I'm sure that even you were under the false impression that all ghosts are evil base creatures with no remorse or feelings of loyalty towards one another, all because of how you were raised. But now you know better."

I understood what he was saying but since I was still having a hard time accepting it I shook my head and told him, "Here's the thing though, I get that you've done a lot for me Vlad, and I...I really DO appreciate it. And I know you've changed in the last couple of weeks. You've done things for me I never thought I'd see you do in a million years. But...it doesn't change our history, I can't just ditch it all because of what you've done the last couple of weeks or you bringing me here to live with you in this shiny new castle, complete with my own room and given me a bunch of other things to remind me of home so I'll feel better about this whole crappy situation. Thing like that take time, and I'm frankly still feeling confused and conflicted about being here at all. But yeah, I realize the alternative isn't much better trying to make it on my own. I can only hope this won't change me. That's why I'm still so uneasy about all of this, especially when it comes to things about...you."

I felt heat rush to my cheeks because I felt ashamed for admitting this to his face and completely flustered because the truth is Vlad really HAS done a lot for me. And me saying all of this to him made me sound like an ungrateful little brat. What was I even saying anyway? Did I want to turn around and go straight back to Amity after only a day here because I was getting cold feet? Was I still afraid that of being alone with Vlad for too long because of the chances increasing of us creating Dan if I ever went off the deep end and asked him to do something so horrible to make the pain go away? I just-!

"Daniel," Vlad called, his mild tone persuasively coaxing me into looking up at him again. He didn't look or sound angry or anything but regardless of that my heart started pounding with growing dread when he calmly pointed out, "You've already said all this to me before, why are you telling me again?"

"Because I feel like it needs repeating so I don't let my guard down too soon and then end up regretting my decision. I'm having a hard time seriously taking in what living together really means for both of us. And it only makes me feel more conflicted about trusting you with my life and everything," I replied honestly, barely able to hear myself think with the way my heart was hammering in my ears. "Vlad...whenever I've been here it was either because you were trying to isolate me, trap me, or I was trying to stop you from hurting my friends and family. Just because I'm here now and you got what you wanted, does that mean you'll stop going after my dad for good this time? You said so yourself, because I mean so much to you, the fact that it was my dad who nearly killed me when this whole thing started you have all the more reason to want him out of my life. And Dan, he's trying to make me feel isolated too just like you used to. And if he tries to control me again I know that the first thing he'll do is send ME after the people I care about because he wants me to lose the one thing that keeps me human, my family. It's not enough just to know I'm not alone in this world, I still need them. So what's going to stop you from LETTING me hurt my dad or worse Vlad if Dan ever does get control over me huh? I know you hate him, heck I doubt you'll EVER stop hating my father after what he did to me and you in the past, but, I keep asking myself, is your hate still stronger then your feelings towards me? Sure you keep telling me they are strong enough that you're willing to stop chasing my mom and that you still want me to stay despite everything you've put me through. What's to stop you from removing them from the picture yourself in a way you don't think I'll suspect so that I'll become your son anyway? Eventually I have to go back, Vlad. I can't accept all this without feeling like I'm being two faced and giving you a false hope that this changes anything. Amity Park is still my home, Vlad. It always will be. The question is, when that time comes and we do figure out how to fix my problems, will you even let me go home? Can I let go of all the baggage between us knowing what staying here might do still to me if you or Dan try to turn me into something I'm not...?"

After that, Vlad's expression turned serious and he suddenly took a few menacing steps towards me, his posture immediately sending up red flags in my brain since I've seen him come at me like this before. Seeing him like that I instinctively took another step back, wondering if I said too much and set him off. Then, snatching my wrists with inhuman speed he pulled me forward sharply, his eyes narrowed and after leaning in close to my ear Vlad breathed. "Very well. If that's the way it is then so be it. If you don't trust me after all I've done and still think I'll pose a serious threat to you in the end now that I have you where I want you like this Dan fellow...then how about you take care of me now to eliminate that risk? Here, I'll even give you a clean shot."

My heart racing painfully fast now I stammered, "W-what? What're you saying?"

"You heard me," Vlad repeated, his tone dark and low and honestly...kinda terrifying because it was so much like Dan's it was uncanny.

Placing my hands squarely on his chest over his heart right after that, my eyes flew wide open and when it sunk in what he actually meant I tried to jerk away or phase out of his grasp but his grip was bruising and monstrous, and when I tried to do the latter he just made his hands intangible too! No I...I don't hate Vlad THAT much. In fact I don't hate him at all anymore! I never did, no matter how badly he treated me, even when Vlad cloned me and then tried to torture a mid-morph sample out of me somehow I knew Vlad would never actually take things too far. How could Vlad even think I would-!

"NO! No, Vlad let go of me! I can't! I WON'T! This isn't what I meant!" I cried, struggling even more when he transformed into his ghost form and again, I recoiled from him when in a moment of blind panic I saw Dan and not Vlad holding me captive, his fangs glinting dangerously. I didn't even realize my cheeks were soaked with tears until my vision blurred and more of them silently spilled over and made them damp. I looked up into his solid red eyes helplessly and whimpered. I couldn't do this. I didn't want to! I was only trying to tell Vlad that it didn't feel right being here or accepting all of this when...when I'm...

"I know," Vlad began softly just as I was about to completely shut down, his grip loosening on my wrists and I gasped. "I knew coming here would reopen old wounds but...that doesn't change the fact that yes, I DO want you here little badger. I can't help myself-" letting go of my wrists completely, Vlad lunged at me and wrapped his arms around my shaking shoulders as I tried to hold back the rest of my dry sobs and felt his black rings passed through us, making my ghost core quiver. "I never expected that giving you all of my love an affection from now on could ever hope to make up for the pain I've caused you. That would be foolish of me. All I can really hope for now is that I can show you how real my feelings are and how much I feel like you DO deserve this Daniel. Believe me, I wanted to do so much more for you before we arrived but I knew it would probably overwhelm you like this so I restrained myself. Still, I am terrible sorry I've made you feel so unsure about our new current living situation and where you stand in my life all the same. I'm only human Daniel. And honestly I've never had anyone in my life I wished to dote upon so I can't help but want to bestow you with all the lavishness my wealth has to offer. You've been struggling so hard to keep your life together before and after becoming half-ghost, and that's admirable, but now it's time for you to let someone else take care of you for a change. Someone who actually CAN help you in every possible way. True, I can't make you forget your old life nor what I've done to you, but, rest assured that whether you stay with me indefinitely or not, I am offering you a safe haven, a shelter from the storm. That is why I want you to know you will always be welcomed here. Just give it time. You'll see, things will change as we move forward from here. In fact, they already have. And it's all thanks to you, little badger."


	46. Since When Have You Had A Life?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 45: Since When Have You Had A Life?

" _Invisible tears are the hardest to wipe away. Just let it out, my friend."_ **~ Adabella Radici**

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Vlad's POV

Thanks to my ghost hearing I could hear how hard Daniel's heart was racing as I held him tightly in my arms. I could feel each frantic pulse as his heartbeat reverberated through my chest before it gradually returned to normal. I could feel how badly his young shoulders were shaking as he wept freely for the first time since his whole world fell apart. And Daniel was doing this in front of me, of all people, without any of his previous self-restraint. What I had done to prove to him once and for all I was not the enemy had opened the floodgates, releasing his pent up emotions before he could stop himself.

It felt cruel to put him in that kind of position, but from the moment I saw his uncertainty return I knew Daniel needed it. We both did. He needed to know once and for all that I was willing to put my life in his hands, to trust him. All because I wanted him to finally believe with every fiber of his being that for once in my life, my intentions for him were good.

I knew it wouldn't be easy for Daniel to trust me with everything weighing on his mind since it is true that I have put his life at risk numerous times on purpose, fully aware of my actions unlike his parents. Despite how much I had upset him by doing this I felt it was absolutely necessary if we were ever going to move forward. Even so it surprised me when I found that my own eyes had grown a little damp because it was such a relief to finally know that Daniel didn't hate me that much after all. I only wish I hadn't been forced to make him admit those feelings to me and to himself in such a crude way.

Ever since we left Amity Park I had a feeling Daniel would end up second-guessing himself like this before too long. And it looks like I was right to worry. Once the gravity of what I was offering him really sunk in, regardless of whether I held back or not, I was almost certain it would overwhelm the troubled teen. He was still fighting against his survival instincts that were sending up red flags and telling him to fight me if he wanted to survive, to reject everything I stood for because I was evil and a skilled liar so this all had to be a trick of some sort. That much was abundantly clear.

True, those instincts have saved his life in the past when ghosts started attacking him left and right and now they were telling him to still see me as the villain and an enemy, but since Daniel himself no longer felt that way about me and was only trying to remain cautious, the fact that he was refusing to listen to those instincts only troubled him more. It pained me to see all these conflicted feelings cause Daniel so much distress when I wanted nothing more than to bring some much needed equilibrium back into his life.

I wanted Daniel to know beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was loved. To know that his accomplishments in the face of such hardships, hardships that I had failed to notice until now, were finally being acknowledged; and most of all I wanted Daniel to know that I was giving him the respect he deserves by showing him a side of myself I would never dare show another person, living or otherwise. My vulnerable side. I was giving him the chance to live his own life from now on and to use his powers as he saw fit, not because he felt forced into using them to protect himself and others. I was finally offering him the help and guidance I've been trying to give him from the start, albeit for the wrong reasons until now. And those were the very two things his parents should have been giving their son from the moment he was brought into this world, their guidance and support. Even before he became half-ghost like me Daniel shouldn't have had to fight so hard for their approval, but he no longer had to prove himself to me. Because I already knew he was more than worthy of everything I had to offer...

I meant every word. And I would keep telling him those words until it was burned into his memory like a brand. I loved Daniel, for reasons I cannot begin to explain he meant the world to me. It's a shame that it's taken all of this for me to see how much he really did need me in his life. He needed me now more than ever. And I needed him.

It wasn't just our powers that made us close, not anymore, really it was as though we were made for each other since I saw so much of myself in him from a time when I too blindly gave too much of myself to a world that didn't care one way or another who I was or what I hoped to become. He was the son I yearned for so that the love that my father gave me, and the lessons he taught me before he left this world, wouldn't be forgotten after Jack stole the woman whose children I wished to bring into this world as their father. No, while these powers in a way did give us a rather unique bond, one that was stronger than blood, I think the part of me that cared about Daniel so much was the one that secretly envied Jack from the moment I met Daniel at the reunion. The part that hated Jack all the more for having such a bright young man as HIS son when I deserved him so much more. That, and I hated him for not seeing how lucky he was or admitting that the ONLY reason he gained such a son with the woman I once loved was because he stole everything from his former best friend, Vlad Masters.

At this point even if Jack and Maddie knew the truth and wanted to help him, they'd never understand Daniel the way I do. The poor boy was so haunted; and it wasn't even by ghosts! What haunted Daniel was his past, and the future he'd seen with his very own eyes that made him fear that every road he took now led straight to it. No child should ever feel this way! Especially not my little badger. I can take responsibility for my part in causing him so much grief, but the fact that his parents and his two best friends had made him question how good of a person he was and constantly berated him and told him what to believe when he was constantly risking his LIFE for these people disgusted me.

If I supposedly embodied everything wrong with this world, then Daniel represented the only good thing left on this miserable planet worth fighting for! I was going to protect him with my life from this moment on. I was going to show those hypocrites exactly who they had almost destroyed through their actions and make them regret ever laying a hand on my little badger. I was going to make them all regret making Daniel question his worth even to someone who has been telling him all along that he was priceless; which coming from the richest man in the world and the most powerful ghost in the Ghost Zone had to mean something!

"For goodness sake Daniel, it's alright to be a little selfish and do things for yourself sometimes! Blast it that's human nature!" I groaned in exasperation, gently cradling his head and rubbing small circles on his back to uncoil his tense muscles a bit. "I didn't give you those things with the intention to win you over or some nonsense like that. I just wanted you to feel at home and understand that that space is yours. Did you really think after all the planning we made to move you somewhere safe I was going to stick you in one of the dozens of guest rooms I have and leave it at that? Have you already forgotten that I've taken full responsibility for your well-being? Foolish boy that doesn't just mean your health Daniel! Look at you! All these years your parents have supposedly taught you the difference between what is right and what is wrong, but even those views have become so warped that they've made you think something as destructive as seriously believing that even taking care of yourself first is selfish! Good GOD boy, how have you survived this long thinking like that?! How can you keep blaming yourself for making mistakes like everyone else and thinking that getting hurt means you're not strong enough or that expressing yourself will just burden your loved ones so you bottle everything up inside until it makes you fall apart so completely like this? Do you even KNOW how many times I've brought you home unconscious and treated your wounds myself when I felt guilty for taking things too far when I know you're struggling to convince me your home life is so perfect? Do you know how often I've laid awake at night wondering if you're actually safe under that roof thinking that if only you were with me you wouldn't have to keep fighting for and fearing for your life?! Do you know how many times I've secretly watched you go into battle with something I knew was exceptionally dangerous and fear that this fight may be your last? I KNOW I was the one who was the bigger fool when I made an enemy out of myself to you, but I was never your true enemy. If I ever made you feel that I actually hated you I'm sorry Daniel, I'm so..." trailing off since I realized I was rambling and that Daniel's sobs had been reduced to short uneven gasps as he tried catching his breath, I sighed and began to let go of him but I was surprised when Daniel lunged at me much like I had earlier and grabbed onto my shirt with both his hands, gripping it so tightly his knuckles turned white, rested his head on my chest, and I felt more silent tears dampen the fabric as he sniffled-

"I-I NEVER wanted to-o fight you-u Vlad! I just w-wanted you to l-leave me and my f-family a-alone!" Daniel howled in a weak broken voice that shook me to my ghost core but I remained silent and listened to what he had to say. "And lately I've just...felt SO frustrated that y-you couldn't just-t admit that you were being e-even worse of-f a jerk then ever b-before because I got s-so mad that you freaking-g cloned me that I d-decided to get back at you by pulling those pranks on you-u so you'd get annoyed e-enough to leave me alone. But no, instead you continued t-to be just another s-stupid enemy I had to f-fight hell-bent on r-ruining my life! And you wanna know what the w-worst part is? I h-hated knowing you were r-right ab-bout me! About how I wanted to look up to you SO BADLY! Maybe n-not as my dad or anything, but it would have been s-so awesome to-o finally have someone I could talk to who GETS it! Someone that knows that being half-ghost actually SUCKS s-sometimes. Like it does right now..." Daniel paused to catch his breath again and coughed before continuing, "Maybe you're right, m-maybe I just need t-to give this more time but how can I l-let myself feel at home here when I've also done bad things to you?! Granted, the last time your castle blew up it was b-beacuse your portal exploded, but the second time, it was me, it was my fault! I CHOSE to send the Guys In White over here to wreck the place. And the worst part-t is, it f-felt totally justified! Or at least it did at first because do you have ANY idea how much I hated you after you tortured me Vlad?! Do you know how close I was to doing something much worse because of how angry I was at you? I even thought of telling my parents your secret so you'd know what it feels like being hunted for once! I've NEVER felt that way before or hated anyone that much and that's what s-scares me. All that hate...I don't want to feel that way towards you or anyone! Because it's that kind of hate towards ghosts I've lived with my whole life; it's the hate that almost made me forget that like you said...you're only human. Just like me. But most of all, it's the kind of all consuming hate that makes Dan such a horrible MONSTER!"

 _So that's it,_ I thought to myself, taken aback by this new revelation. _This isn't just about uncertainty, it's also about guilt. Daniel feels as though the fact that this castle was built to replace the one that was leveled thanks to those government moron's means he can't accept what I've given him. That explains why his emotional reaction was so strong this time. Still, I can't let him keep destroying himself like this. Enough is enough._

"Daniel," I began, resting my hands on either shoulder gently and brushing my thumbs over them soothingly. "It's alright. We've both made mistakes but that is all in the past. I don't blame you for what happened anymore and therefore you shouldn't blame yourself either. I'd say we're even as far as who did what to whom. And even if we're not we HAVE to move on. It's not healthy to live in the past, wouldn't you agree?" I smiled, making a jab at myself because of the irony of that statement.

Wiping his eyes with his palms after releasing my shirt, Daniel nodded, still looking unsure, "I g-guess you have a point there..."

I nodded in agreement before adding solemnly, "In all seriousness though we do need to discuss what the future will bring-" his flinch didn't escape me but I ignored it and continued, "But before anything else you need to eat something Daniel. It's been two days since your last meal and I don't want to lose all the progress we've made in your recovery. Follow me, I'll show you where the kitchen is. Oh, and Daniel?" He looked up at me and I told him warmly, "Thank you for finally trusting me. I promise I will do my best to make sure you know that it's not misplaced. I'm not the man I was before. And I will continue to prove it. As for you, well, I have no doubt you'll soon return to your heroic overly-childish ways before we know it if this little trust exercise is anything to judge by. You have nothing to worry about. That, and if my previous efforts to tempt you to the dark side never worked I have a feeling they won't now and neither will Dan's. Believe me Daniel I know every trick in the book my boy, so trust me when I say that I think having a former villain on your side now will serve you well in the end because unlike we were before, I'll be more than prepared when he makes his next move so that I can keep you safe. And when he does, he had better be prepared to lose at his own game."

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Danny's POV

You know what the worst part is of crying your eyes out? It's the grittiness in your eyes and the splitting headache you get afterwards when you do it hard enough. I can't even remember the last time I've given in and cried without Jazz tricking me with some of her shrink babble into telling her what was really bothering me, especially when I woke up in the middle of the night from a nightmare about Dan. But like Vlad, I bet she knew I needed to talk to SOMEONE about all this before I exploded because I just couldn't take it anymore! I guess now was one of those times. I'm just surprised that it happened so fast and without warning so I really let loose on Vlad.

Up until now, Jazz was the only person I trusted enough to cry in front of despite her usual over-protectiveness. Not even Sam and Tucker have seen me cry since I was five. Should have known Vlad would have some of his own mental tricks up his sleeve too to get me to talk before I realized what was happened and just blurted it out. It was almost like what he would do with his evil plans, although now that I knew him a little better I was a little annoyed when it turned out half the time he did that on purpose to give me a fighting chance because otherwise as smart as he said I was Vlad was way out of my league...

If it wasn't for the fact that I was starving, I probably would have gone straight back to bed because I was exhausted from crying. Thankfully the kitchen wasn't that far so once we made it there I took the nearest seat and plopped into it, earning an amused eye roll from Vlad before he did the exact opposite and sat down with the smooth movements of a king settling a top his throne. Speaking of which, a curious part of me wondered if the Dairy King stuck around here anymore after the original castle exploded. I never thought about that until now so I was a little worried but since Vlad probably only saw him as an annoyance and not a threat he probably left him alone.

Still, a nervous knot formed in my stomach wondering who else hung around here as far as the ghostly variety went. Then again, Vlad told me that his usual underlings were told to stay away unless it was urgent or they were called here directly so I was hoping I was worrying over nothing. I mean, I could still kick their butts but if I had to worry about my ghost sense going off at all hours here too I was going to have to have a word with Vlad about it. Speaking of which, Vlad looked like he was biding his time and giving me time to calm down because when we arrived at his kitchen table -which like the one from his mansion in Amity if this wasn't the same one, could fit at least a dozen people at it comfortably- breakfast was already waiting for us on one of those fancy domed platters and there was a newspaper next to his.

Unable to stay quiet about I wondered, "Wait, Vlad did you cook again?"

I grimaced when my voice cracked but it hadn't been that long since Vlad freaked me out with that whole _'I'll give you a clean shot if you really think I'm an evil mastermind'_ thing so...yeah. Anyways Vlad shook his head and calmly took a drink of coffee from the teacup next to the newspaper -but who the heck in their right mind drinks coffee in a teacup?- and explained in an amused tone, "No dear boy I did not. While I can and do enjoy cooking every once in awhile it is impractical since I normally have a very busy schedule. Oh, and before you ask...yes, it just so happens that my personal chef is a ghost. Although I can assure you he's very good at what he does and I've only hired him back recently. So please, help yourself Daniel and feel free to ask for seconds should you think you can handle it. I've informed him of your situation and while I may change this policy later, should we get to the point where I can safely take you out in public, I would like you to at least get into the habit of trying everything your given at least once if you do not have the luxury of a menu to choose something for yourself. At some point I'll have to introduce you to him so we can create a more personalized meal plan for you based on your nutritional needs since you are still terribly underweight Daniel. And even making a plan is somewhat pointless if you won't eat what you're given. I won't let you starve of course, but at the same time I'm not about to let you get away with eating that greasy trash you call food for every meal since you're a growing young man and need a great deal of protein in your diet that it has been sorely lacking. You'll need the extra energy once we begin training as soon you're well enough to give you an outlet for your excess ghost energy, mainly this new kind you've developed now that your core has settled."

I blinked, half of that went completely over my head but the weirdest part is how...eerily calm Vlad was acting after what happened in the hallway and the way he was pretending as if everything was normal. But it wasn't. I felt so stupid for breaking down in front of him, it caught me totally off guard. Sure I was overwhelmed by all this but that was a given since his mansion back in Amity Park was nothing compared to this!

From the little I've seen of it he kept the interior relatively normal, well, for a castle that is and while there were still splashes of green and gold everywhere it wasn't as overbearing as before. Guess he meant it when he said he'd toned down his fruitloopiness for me despite freaking me out by lunging at me like that then transforming. I couldn't get it out of my head. It reminded me of the day I met Vlad and...if he'd been serious about disposing of me he easily could have because back then I'd only had my powers a few months at best. Up until then I managed to defeat most of the ghosts that showed up with Sam and Tucker's help and started training more in secret to try and improve a little. But I didn't realize just how powerless I was until Vlad beat the non-living crap out of me and I blacked out. I always did wonder why that ghost didn't finish me off but figured Vlad must've shown up and scared him of, though that was before I knew they were one and the same. Huh...I wonder if that's how it looks to my parents? They'd see the ghost boy fly off and then I would appear basically out of nowhere and then-

"Daniel? Daniel!" Vlad called, snapping me out of my daydream and he sounded worried. "Forgive me, I keep forgetting myself and what I just put you through this morning rather unexpectedly." Rising from his seat since he had long since finished eating while I sat there in a stupor, Vlad approached me and urged, "I've given you a lot to think about so I think it would be best to give you some time to yourself to get better acquainted with your surroundings. Before I got carried away I was planning to inform you what the house rules are. I'd best give them to you now before I return to my office to make some calls and begin an online board meeting with one of the companies I run. As you already know, since we're dealing with a dangerous unknown ghost enemy I've raised the ghost shield but it has been programmed to ignore your signature. As such, once you've finished eating I'd highly recommend going for a short flight. It's a beautiful day outside and I daresay you could use the fresh air. Should you get too cold however from the windchill just do as Frostbite taught you and release that pent up energy and I'm sure you'll be fine. You're free to go wherever you wish within the castle grounds except for my office unless invited and the lab is securely locked when not in use. Apart from that you're free to explore the castle at your leisure. Take care little badger," he smiled, ruffling my hair before casually strolling out the door and closing it behind him.

I don't know which surprised me more, the fact that Vlad said I was allowed to go outside now or the fact that he actually had a LIFE outside of being my former pain in the butt arch enemy. I think I'd take him up on that flight suggestion though. I was feeling too suffocated in here so I timidly lifted the lid to the food tray and was relieved to find a very normal looking breakfast of an ham filled omelet, hash-browns, and sausage links with a side of toast.

A shame there wasn't any ketchup at the table but I wasn't about to risk finding out if this ghost chef of his was male version of the Lunch-lady so I settled for what was in front of me and ate as much of is as I could before I transformed and shot through the roof, eager to get away from the castle and Vlad for a little while to clear my head. Because even now I was still wondering...had I done the right thing coming here? Could I have a somewhat normal life again with Vlad. I wasn't sure, but since Vlad had shown me that he was serious about taking care of me after all it couldn't hurt to at least try to get used to the idea...

Could it?


	47. The Billion Dollar Question

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 46: The Billion Dollar Question

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Danny's POV

Almost immediately after I left the castle -though I made sure to make a mental note of where the heck it was so I wouldn't get totally lost- I flew off in the opposite direction towards the forest behind it. After flying over his private football field to reach it, I figured as long as I stayed along the outskirts of the forest it still counted as Vlad's property. Then again, I was probably underestimating how much of the land he actually owned. For all I knew, Vlad probably owned all the land that the town nearby was built on, you know like some kind of old medieval ruler who was just letting people live there for his own convenience to have at least something between him and sweet solitude. Because by living relatively close to a real town that was only a few miles away no one could accuse him of completely cutting himself off from the rest of the world.

Even though Vlad was still considered a private citizen, I guess with his secret and all he didn't appreciate tourists taking pictures in front of his castle, or reporters skulking around looking for a scandal. Wouldn't surprise me if Vlad used his ghost persona to scare people off so they'd leave him alone or overshadowed the people who were stupid enough to think they could get the jump on him and drop them off somewhere they couldn't bother him. You know what DOES surprise me? It's the fact that Vlad was letting me out of his sight at all, you know, after what JUST happened...

I honestly wasn't expecting it at all but I was grateful. Now that I wasn't on the verge of dying -or literally losing my mind- I really needed a chance to get away from it all, including Vlad, just for a little while so I could put some serious thought into what I was going to do with my life from here on out. From the looks of it Vlad probably needed a break from me too when I noticed that he also had dark circles under his eyes; though they weren't nearly as glaringly obvious as mine. And they weren't the spooky kind he had naturally while in ghost form either. Still, I forced myself not to think about any of it too much. The only thing that mattered right now was that I was still alive, my body didn't hurt anymore, I didn't feel so freaking cold like before when I collapsed, and now that we were far away from the source of all my problems I was free to enjoy the warmth of the sun on my face as I lazily flew over the trees and appreciate how good it felt to be able to fly again out in the fresh morning air.

There wasn't a cloud in the sky either which to be completely honest made me a little nervous at first since that's usually a good place to hide during a fight if I needed to catch my breath. I had to remind myself though that there weren't any ghosts around for miles, well besides Vlad obviously, the only other halfa, so I took a moment to appreciate that simple fact. Even if it was because I nearly died...I really did need a break from all the ghost fighting and I was looking forward to being conscious enough to enjoy not dealing with it for now. I wasn't about to tell Vlad this, but before our last fight when I had already had a pretty crappy few days fighting ghosts almost non-stop, I seriously considered spending the night at Tucker or Sam's and not telling my parents about it since they barely noticed when I was around anyway. I figured getting in trouble for an ACTUAL reason was better than being accused of something and punished anyway...

All I wanted was to have the chance to get in a few more hours of sleep before sensing a ghost and running off to fight it, possibly more than one, and know that afterwards when I came back that no one there would give me an earful about why I looked so tired and like absolute crap and they'd leave me alone. At least my friends knew the reason WHY I looked like that. It was because I was always flying off to who knows where to fight off all these stupid ghosts 24/7 so I could keep everyone else safe, when the truth is I hardly felt safe myself anymore. I was always in constant danger no matter where I went; even under my own roof! Vlad was right on the money about that. At this point I couldn't even feel happy about having a relatively quiet day back in Amity Park anymore because I was so paranoid that the ghosts were just biding their time and plotting their next move.

And even if I DID manage to have a good day where I felt like it was safe to drop my guard and relax even a little bit, Dash just LOVED to wipe that smile off my face the moment he laid eyes on me. It was like I was being punished by the universe for feeling good about anything or happy with the quiet moments when I had a job to do and should be focusing on that instead of, you know, having my own life and trying to survive high school! Literally!

It didn't help that Sam always got on my case for giving Dash a taste of his own medicine by pulling some harmless pranks on him using the only advantage I had, my ghost powers. While HE on the other hand would take EVERY opportunity to beat the living snot out of me. But again, Sam had absolutely no idea what it was like to get a fist to the face from a ghost or a normal person, and how crappy it felt to have to take the hit from the latter to keep up appearances so no one could suspect me of being stronger than I looked. At least Tucker could relate to the whole being-bullied thing since he's taken his fair share of beatings from Dash and the other jocks too...

People are always telling you to just ignore them when others are acting like bullies, and how eventually they'll get bored and stop doing it, or to tell an adult what's going on. But whenever I gave in and actually tried to talk to someone about it none of them ever listened to me! They never believed me! It never mattered to them how I felt or the reason why it was happening because I was just some punk kid; all they'd ever do is tell me to either suck it up or that I had better start making better life choices before I got expelled for getting into all these fights and ruined my entire future. Well news flash people! I've already been there, done that, and sometimes it felt like nothing has changed even after getting a second chance from Clockwork. As usual their first instinct was to accuse me that _I_ was the one who STARTED those fights on purpose! I never did though, start them I mean, however at least when it came to ghosts I sure as hell FINISHED those fights. But still, didn't I have the right to defend myself from bullies just as much as the ghosts making my life a living hell?!

It was so frustrating that my parents never listened, my friends didn't understand, and my sister only understood so much, so over time I really felt like I was completely alone and there was no one in my life I could turn to when _I_ was the one in trouble. That's why I was so surprised when Vlad of all people listened to everything I had to say, even the stuff about him specifically without saying a word. Then to take it a step further Vlad even comforted me, for once not holding any of what I said against me. You have NO idea how good it felt to finally let it all out, to have someone finally just...listen to what I had to say and accept it at face value.

For once in my life someone besides my sister was actually trying to understand me and give me ACTUAL advice on what to do. And Vlad admitted being partially at fault for what I had to put up with too, which is more than I can say for my parents. He didn't dismiss what I was feeling or brush it aside like everyone else. Instead Vlad told me that it was alright to feel angry and upset and confused about everything, because it wasn't a crime. I was ALLOWED to express my feelings to Vlad, and I didn't realize it until now that during our fights Vlad was purposefully letting me vent my frustrations while secretly worrying about me. Too bad back then Vlad had a funny way of showing it, how much he cared what happened to me after all...

I had no idea Vlad was the one who brought me home those times I was knocked unconscious during a fight. Mind you this was way back when I still wasn't very good at conserving my energy or as skilled at fighting as I am today after meeting Vlad at the reunion. So basically I just assumed all this time that somehow I managed to wake up and get myself back home in a daze and forgot about it or Sam and Tucker found me eventually and snuck me in through the window. To know that it was actually Vlad who rescued me in secret without telling me or using those rescues as leverage to win me over was so bizarre. It seemed so unlike the Vlad I used to know, but then again there's a lot we still don't know about each other even now.

It was freaking insane to know that Vlad was totally serious about wanting to provide a better life for me; it wasn't just lipservice or some delusion of his to make me a part of his family, well, ok not JUST a delusion anyway about wanting me as his son. I was even more surprised to hear about how he used to lay awake at night after one of OUR fights silently berating himself for letting me go back to Fenton Works in that condition. I didn't think he ever worried about anything to be honest, let alone about me, since Vlad was usually five steps ahead of everyone else and seemed to only care about himself.

And because he's so smart Vlad already knew perfectly well that I was only fooling myself into thinking I was any better off at home with my parents then I was giving in and accepting his crazy offer. He knew that a part of me always wanted to accept his help, despite what Vlad told me I'd have to give up in order to get it. Well, I guess that wouldn't be a problem anymore if my parents ever gave up on finding me. Because then there would be no reason to go back...which is why I held onto that last bit of hope I had left so hard.

In spite of everything there's one thing I know for sure. I can safely say now that even though I pretended I was fine in front of everyone, inside I was slowly falling apart and was hitting my emotional limit after that battle with Dan. After all, how do you move on from seeing a version of yourself destroy the world? Seeing everything and everyone you love reduced to ashes? And how do you hide the truth from them about how scared you are of being the reason they end up dead no matter how hard I fight for their sake since I'm supposed to be the hero and always win...?

Vlad was right. He was right about all of it.

I was so TIRED of lying to my family and to myself and hiding how I feel. I was also tired of lying to Vlad about how badly I wanted him to understand what I was going through since he played a big part in it too, which showed me proof that he could be a good person, and to just help me! I mean he knows how hard it is coping with being half-ghost. How hard it is to accept that I'll never be normal again even when I pretend to be like I had no choice to when I found out for myself that there really is no way to reverse it since even Vlad's own future self couldn't do it. I wanted there to be someone I could go to besides my sister that was willing to sit down with me long enough to actually help me study without making me feel dumb so I COULD get decent grades and that way everyone would stop saying I'm the stupidest member of my family. I was so tired of not being able to explain why I failed almost every test or I came home late which made it easy to assume I was just a lazy bum when really, every day's a battle, and 95% of the time that was in a literal sense!

No one else I knew had to constantly fight for their lives! Not even Valerie, and she fights ghosts just like I do; too bad she's usually fighting ME though because it would have been a huge help to finally have someone watching my back who could actually help me fight ghosts, no offense to Sam and Tucker who did what they could to help me. Even though my parents are professional ghost hunters I've never seen THEM slip out of the house to fight Skulker and suck him into the Fenton Thermos. I've never seen them try chasing three animal ghosts at once before they ate someone. Nope, the thing that both party's shared in common was that they only went out on patrol whenever the mood struck, and they then came home in time to make dinner and go to bed without a scratch. Meanwhile I went out almost every night whether I wanted to or not and barely made it home without a broken bone or two.

You know, it's funny, but I can't believe Vlad hates it as much as I do that my parents had absolutely no idea when I was hurt even when it was only because of Dash almost breaking my nose, or how even when I finally DID make it home, half the time I was lucky to make it back alive and it hurt in an entirely different way for them to give me a verbal lashing on top of the actual beating I just took from Vlad or some other ghost. Because of that, sometimes I had no choice but to sit through yet another lecture while hiding the fact that I was in a lot of pain and one time I had three broken ribs which let me tell you felt like someone sticking a white-hot poker into my side every time I moved.

Knowing what I knew about Vlad now, maybe I was wrong about him this whole time, just like I was wrong about my parents accepting me no matter what. But even if I did go back, there's nothing I could do to fix this mess. I simply had to trust Vlad which was easier said then done since I was so used to painting him as the bad guy. Not this time though. This time, Vlad was here for me for real and even if I did have somewhere else to go, there was no one else that could help me as much as Vlad could. So there's no point in worrying about the what if's anymore because the damage was done and all I wanted to do was start over with him from here. And unlike before I actually believed that Vlad wanted to change our relationship.

At any rate, I knew at this point I was better off staying with Vlad one way or another for now, but I was still worried if this was the right thing to do because...what if Dan starts messing with Vlad to get to me too? What if he hurts Vlad and it's all my fault for not just telling him the truth? The truth about how Dan was made of the worst of BOTH of us mashed together? If I wanted to I could leave, right now, and I might get a day or two's head start before Vlad found me. And maybe by then I could find a way to get to Clockwork now that I was doing better and get some answers. Because seeing visions of Dan's past, hearing his voice in my head, losing control of my own powers, none of that should be possible right? And now that Vlad and I knew Dan was actively trying to get to me, how long did we have before he used that freaky connection against Vlad too? Or maybe Dan already was and that was why I kept seeing Vlad look just like him whenever I freaked out enough...?

Drifting a little lower when my ears started ringing and I felt dizzy from thinking too much, I shook my head and decided to start making my way back. I was probably worrying over nothing since I think we all know that Vlad can handle himself in a fight against almost anything. So if and when something big DID happened I owed it to Vlad to tell him the whole truth then and not before if we managed to sort this out before things got that bad. But right now I couldn't bring myself to do it. We had to take it each day at a time and try to build up more trust between us, and what Vlad did today showed me just how much he believed in who I was enough to the point where he knew I'd never do something so awful even to him, which was kind of a big deal to me.

Because I know for a fact that Vlad isn't the sort of person to do that sort of thing lightly, not even as some clever ruse, which this wasn't. It was real. Vlad did what he thought I needed the most at the time which was to show me I could trust him THAT much. It was kind of hard to tell when his eyes were solid red but when Vlad got me to look up at him, he looked sad, almost reserved as if he knew this was coming but hoped I would understand that he meant everything he told me. This was my home now, and Vlad was going to take care of me.

I could only hope that Vlad knew what a whirlwind of emotions he was in for.


	48. The Waiting Game

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (9/1/2018):** Been overdoing things a bit so I need a short break from _"Nowhere To Run"_ and Danny Phantom in general, so I hope you'll enjoy what I have until then! ** **  
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Chapter 47: The Waiting Game

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Vlad's POV

Finding myself unable to concentrate on my work anymore I sighed for the thousandth time since parting ways with Daniel after breakfast, pinched the bridge of my nose, and closed my laptop with a slight snap. The first few calls and the board meeting went smoothly and thankfully at the time served as ample distraction from other matters of a more personal nature. But now that I was left alone with my thoughts, I was finding it difficult to sit still. Daniel had left the castle only about an hour ago and still hadn't returned...

And the longer he was gone, the more restless I became.

I was troubled by the fact that there's a very real chance I went too far this time and scared Daniel off with my little stunt; even to the point of him running away now that I'd taken my eyes off of him. And what's more, what if Dan used this opportunity to assault the boy's mind again while his guard was down because of all this confusion he's feeling? Was I being a complete fool by carelessly allowing Daniel to leave the safety of these walls? Even though I knew Daniel had to sort out his feelings for himself, and make some difficult decisions where his new life with me is concerned...?

"Get a hold of yourself Vladimir," I huffed, pushing my chair back rather forcefully and making my way to the window where I scanned the skies for any sign of him. "He'll be back. There's no use coddling the boy, he's not a child anymore. I have to show him that I'll respect his boundaries so long as he does the same with mine. I am merely showing Daniel that I am by no means ignoring him, unlike his parents. That's all. I'm only giving Daniel the space he needs to himself right now, which every healthy relationship needs every once in awhile. And speaking of which..."

I frowned, pulling my cell phone from my suit pocket and sighed again, knowing that one of the calls I was waiting for was from the private detective I hired to make my search for Daniel at least _'look'_ real to Jack and Maddie since this man had an excellent reputation. What's more I knew all of the man's most kept secrets too, such as the fact that he was more than willing to bend a few rules to get the job done. And that is precisely why I was going to tell him a half-truth about what really happened to Daniel. Because the fact of the matter is, his father DID shoot my little badger and I would not stand for it.

Without going as far as getting Jack arrested I at the very least wanted to employ someone who would be more than willing to help me gather evidence to use against the Fenton's later in a court of law just in case I ever planned to take legal guardianship of Daniel once I _'found'_ him. I could do this at least with a clear conscience as a back up plan in the unlikely event that Daniel decided he didn't want to return home to live with his parents after all. Of course _I_ already knew full well why Jack shot his son, it was because the man was obsessed with ghosts and saw them everywhere, and whenever they spotted one it almost always ended with disastrous results when they attacked them without thinking about the consequences of their actions or considering the safety of their children...

Even Jasmine herself pointed out that those two had a terrible habit of putting their entire family at risk due to their dangerous work, and if need be I'm sure she could help testify that Fenton Work's has never been a suitable environment to raise a family. That's why if and when Jasmine decided she wanted to leave Fenton Works as well I was willing to consider taking care of her too, at least until she graduated high school. My main focus however was Daniel because he needed me much more for a number of reasons, especially due to the emotional scars his father's recent actions have left on the boy.

"Jack Fenton..." I snarled, "You damn fool..." Feeling my eyes start burning with ecto-energy I took a deep breath then placed my free hand on the cool glass of the window to my office as I thought bitterly, "How lucky you are that I've promised Daniel I wouldn't kill you for what you've done to him, because frankly that's the only thing keeping you alive _'old friend.'_ Both of your children have suffered enough at your expense for far longer than I realized because of YOUR idiocy...far too long..."

I rarely cursed anymore out of habit mainly because my mother used to scold me harshly for it every time I did even by mistake while my father on the other hand would skillfully play the disappointed-parent card, which was highly effective due to how much I idolized him. Even so, despite the slip up just now I was having difficulty keeping my old hatred of Jack from resurfacing in full force. I had to keep telling myself that the only thing that mattered now was that while Jack's actions have left Daniel feeling alone, betrayed, and hopeless like I once felt, those actions are what have finally brought him to me willingly and I could help Daniel in ways that no one else could.

And speaking of old habits, I couldn't help but revel in the fact that Daniel FINALLY understood that what I've been telling him about his parents and his two friends was true, about how they were far from perfect and they never should have made him feel like it was wrong to express himself. Just like I was showing him that I wasn't the villain he thought I was. Because regardless of the mistakes I've made as well, at least I know how to own up to them if given enough reason to, and gaining Daniel's trust was more than reason enough. Although let's be honest, there was still a juvenile part of me which secretly hoped that one day I'd be able to shove it in that fat lout's face that _I_ was more suited to be a father than Jack would ever be and how I had irrefutable proof now that he wasn't worthy of a son like Daniel.

Even so I must admit I'm feeling a little out of my element making sure that I'm addressing all Daniel's needs and concerns properly, finding the right balance between allowing him to have the room he needed to grow, and knowing when it was time to intervene. So far I was doing a rather poor job of it but I believe I made the right choice showing Daniel that I had faith in him. He's gone so long without it which deeply upsets me because I would have thought his friends at least who have seen his heroic actions knew how loyal and trustworthy Daniel was. At least his sister knew that and had faith in him but...why didn't anyone else in his life?

Closing my eyes I reflected on how I felt the first day I met Daniel. I can fondly recall how I immediately took a shine to him because Daniel seemed so curious and forthright just like his mother had been back in our college days. There was this admiration shining in his eyes that made me feel this warmth inside my chest that for a moment almost made me forget the reason why I had lured his father there for and what I was planning to do to win Maddie over. I saw so much of her and myself in him, which is why it was so easy for me to act affectionate towards Daniel right from the start without that sort of standoffish attitude I usually had when meeting the children of my employees or business partners and so on. However since I was planning on making Maddie my wife, I wanted to consider her children as my own. I never did anything halfway, which included making them both feel like a welcome part of my family once Jack was dealt with.

Still, what happened that night changed everything.

After assuming the only reason Danny Phantom went after my vultures was because they invaded his territory I sent them after Jack again now that he was within reach and was surprised to see the ghost boy had followed them all the way here. That behavior seemed rather odd to me but I continued to observe his actions invisibly with amused curiosity when he phased Jack through the floor and brought him to the nearest bathroom before I eventually grew rather annoyed that he was getting in my way and decided to put a stop to it. Shortly after Danny Phantom returned to fight my vultures with that cocky attitude of his I'd heard so much about, I made myself visible again. And since my vultures were the only ones who noticed my displeased glare at first they promptly fled. This of course confused the poor boy so I decided to enlighten him as to the real reason why they had _'given up the ghost'_ as it were was because an infinitely more powerful ghost was now present.

Up until then I'd only heard rumors about this mysterious ghost boy who fought and captured other ghosts like some self-proclaimed superhero in the name of justice. I was planning to investigate him further eventually of course, but due to my plans for Jack taking first priority they'd been put on hold. Being the opportunist I was though I took full advantage of this chance encounter with him and decided to test the boy's limits since all I knew was that he was supposedly half-ghost too, which I found highly unlikely since I was the first of my kind and the odds of another one being created were almost non-existent. Yet there he was, right here in front of me, and I could not shake the feeling that he seemed oddly familiar to me now that I had seen him in person. Those suspicions were confirmed when I defeated the child with ease and he change back to reveal...Daniel James Fenton.

Now it all made sense! No wonder the ghost boy was here in my castle of all places! No wonder he went out of his way to protect Jack, it was because the man was his father! I cannot even begin to describe all the things I both felt and thought about this unexpected revelation. But one thing was for sure...it gave me all the more reason to want Daniel as my son. I didn't know the details yet about HOW he became like this, however, I had no doubt it was the fault of another ghost portal Jack and Maddie had built malfunctioning. One would think they'd learned their lesson after almost killing their best friend with the blasted thing 20 years ago but no, some things never change...

 _I_ on the other hand DID change. From that day on when I was brought to the hospital where I lost the best years of my life thanks to them I decided I would trust no one but myself. From then on I would use these new ghost powers of mine to enact my revenge on the man who ruined my life and stole the woman I loved. And once Daniel came into the picture, I decided that I was going to make sure he didn't have to suffer the way I had for years because of what happened to me trying to rediscover who I was and learn how to control these powers on my own with no one there to guide me. However, the problem with that was the boy was as stubborn as his father and as observant as his mother, meaning Daniel could not accept me or what I was offering because I was still too invested in my revenge schemes and my obsession with him and gaining even more power to ensure that not even a ghost would remain once I disposed of Jack Fenton.

I wonder though if that's why I've always held back, from outright killing Jack, Daniel's father I mean. Perhaps it was because I already knew what that kind of burning hatred for someone could do to a person. And I didn't want that for Daniel. I never wanted to see him ever truly despise me with every fiber of his being and look at me with the same eyes that I looked at Jack with. Because whenever I looked at Daniel, I saw the innocent young teenager I met that day who proudly commented on my love for the Packers and seemed so impressed by that, someone so trusting that he didn't even bat an eye when I sent him up to my lab to get a present for his father. It was almost a shame that I knew it was a lie and I merely wanted him out of harm's way once Maddie's ghost fighting weapons were charged and aimed at her possessed husband...and how after that Daniel never trusted me again or looked at me the same again from that moment on.

Ever since that day though I still saw Daniel as the son I never had both before and after discovering his secret. And what irony it is that his parents rejection, the one thing Daniel tried to use against me regarding how his mother would feel knowing I was half-ghost and attacked her husband, was the reason why he was with me at this very moment. It was a bittersweet realization to be sure but I was going to make the most of it. It didn't so much matter WHY Daniel was here anymore, just that he was. As for the rest I would take care of each issue accordingly and do what was in his best interest. For now that included protecting that town of his so Daniel would have no reason to go running back there when he needed to focus on his own needs for once. Everything was going to be fine, I would make sure of it, and Daniel would want for nothing and receive the love and care he rightly deserved.

Even if it could never fully make up for what I've also put him through.

Upon opening my eyes and gathering my thoughts I was about to turn away from the window when a streak of black and white entered my line of sight and I mentally locked onto his ghost signature to make sure it really was Daniel and that nothing was chasing after him. Relief flooded my system and I rested my arm above my head, leaning my head against the glass, and laughed, _He...he came back! Ha! I knew I was worrying for nothing! For a moment I thought what I did to show him I trusted him not to treat me as the villain anymore was all for nothing and there was a chance I might lose him. Thank goodness..._

Smiling to myself knowing Daniel was safe and sound again I returned to my desk and restarted my laptop. He probably needed some rest after that flight so I didn't wish to disturb him. It was relief enough that Daniel was back inside the castle and I could feel his ghost signature as clearly as my own, so with that I set my phone aside and resumed sorting through official papers and blueprints for the new ghost shield's along with a few other mundane tasks to tie up a few more loose ends. Not a moment later my phone rang and I had to stop myself from sounding too cheerful as a heavily accented voice addressed me and I put my silver tongue to work winning the support of the private detective to build a case against Jack and Maddie Fenton just in case I couldn't find a way to return Daniel to his family without it only placing him in danger again. And Daniel was right about what he said before, the old me likely would never have let him go back there. The new me however was at least willing to try to be true to my word, though that didn't stop me from holding out the hope that if this all worked out...Daniel would become my son, and I would no longer be his _'uncle'_ Vlad.

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I was in the middle of reading the sale's chart for one of my businesses for this month when who should appear but Daniel suddenly sticking his head through my desk excitedly exclaiming, "Vlad, you didn't tell me you had a game room! Can I use it? It looks awesome!"

Unprepared for his sudden appearance I instinctively lept back and fell over in my chair, falling into a tangled mess on the floor. I looked up to see Daniel looking sheepishly at me upon realizing he just broke one of the few house rules I set for him, but I couldn't bring myself to care and moments later threw my head back and laughed. Oh, it was going to be an adventure living with Daniel if this was one of our first interactions without all the doom and gloom hanging over us! His face, he looked so ashamed of himself rubbing the back of his neck nervously while simultaneously looking at me as though I'd gone mentally insane.

"Uh...you ok Vlad?" Daniel wondered as my laughter continued. "You didn't hit your head or anything did you?"

Wiping a tear from my eye since the poor boy had no idea why I found this so amusing and what a relief it was to see him excited for something, I stood up, brushed myself off, and lifted my chair off the floor before I turned to address him. Seeing his worried expression though my smile faded a bit but even so I replied, "No dear boy, you just took me by surprise that's all. And luckily for you I was only going over sales charts but in the future I would appreciate it if you knocked first or otherwise announce yourself as I may be in the middle of an important call or a video conference," closing my laptop once my chair was back in place, I regarded Daniel warmly to show I wasn't angry with him and asked, "Now, what was that about the game room?"

Stuttering back to life and relaxing a little, a blush rising to his cheeks Daniel asked, "Um, well after going out for a flight like you suggested I came back but then I didn't feel like going back to bed just yet so I started looking around and...when I found that room, I dunno it looked kinda fun so I was wondering if I could use it for a bit. And uh...some of the games need more than one person so I thought maybe later we could do something and talk I guess...? Because I just realized that I don't know all that much about you aside from the ghost stuff. And if we're going to be living together it might be nice to...yeah. I mean you found out enough about me to make my bedroom awesome like that so I began wondering what else you might like besides the Packers," Changing back to his human form he blushed even deeper and suddenly found his shoes absolutely fascinating and couldn't bring himself to look up at me.

 _God I adore this boy,_ I thought to myself as I casually strode over and ruffled his hair. "I'd love to do something with you later little badger. And as for the room itself you are more than welcome to anything in there and if there's something missing I can always have it added. I did try to cover the bases at least. I told you before, aside from my bedroom, office, and the lab nothing is off limits to you unless stated otherwise. Well, except maybe the training room since I need to program it to ignore your signature too so it won't attack you on sight. Apart from that Daniel," I smiled, "What's mine is yours now so go ahead and enjoy yourself little badger. I need to finish up here and have lunch prepared for us so the short answer is yes, you may use the game room to your heart's content."


	49. Welcome To My Not-So Evil Lair

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (9/25/2018):** Hello my beloved readers and existing fans! Guess what? I'm officially back from my hiatus! Woohoo! Though to be honest I meant to come back much sooner but then my net was down for 3 days and then some other things happened and that was just a big ball of depressing, plus in general I wasn't sure how to proceed from where I left off but thanks to my awesome beta-reader/best friend I do now. So I hope you'll all enjoy seeing a glimpse of a certain billionaire's nostalgic and nerdy side! lolz

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Chapter 48: Welcome To My Not-So Evil Lair

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Vlad's POV

I simply could not finish concluding my business for the day quickly enough before at long last, after enjoying a relaxed meal I led Daniel back to the game room. And seeing as I'd only seen and directed the renovations rather than spent much time here myself it was almost a miracle that I found it either. The best part however was seeing Daniel excited about anything which in turn effected me as well. It touched me that Daniel was putting forth the effort to get to know me as Vlad Masters and not just Plasmius, though I suppose we were both attempting to understand both of sides of who we were a little better from now on.

It was clear when I opened the door for us that Daniel had likely flown through the wall when he noticed it and only absorbed enough detail to know it was in fact a game room. The layout was fairly simplistic but still top of the line and as I explained before I attempted to cover all the bases. For one thing, one side of the room were your stereotypical games such as pool and a rather intricate chess set next to the bar. And in the middle of the room was a lounge with a fireplace to the left and a flat screen TV directly in front, although I also had a personal theater in an entirely different room as well I would have to show Daniel. And finally, on the opposite side of the lounge was a curtain that let to the other side of the game room where there were many other games that were allegedly there to entertain my younger guests when in truth on occasion even I enjoy a round or two of one or more of the arcade games I played in my youth...

Even with all of my connections and resources, a few of these were quite the challenge to track down. Not to mention since my castle has fallen several times all of them had to be replaced not once, but three entirely different times. There weren't many things I had an emotional attachment to, but these were one of the few things I collected to remind me of better days. And that's why I had to stop myself from smiling too widely in front of Daniel in case he thought I was up to something. It was a lot harder than you'd imagine because it was like meeting the Daniel from the reunion again, so full of innocent curiosity and I was more than happy to give him a tour of the room and explain what everything was. This applied more to the video games and arcade games in the far side of the room behind the curtain because I did have more modern games which surprised him and a few that hadn't been released to the public yet.

"Wow these are so old school..." Daniel commented when he reached the arcade games and marveled at the restoration work.

Of course, one of the first games he was drawn to turned out to be Galga unsurprisingly due to his love of space adventures. It was a popular game from the early 80's where you take control of a Starfighter and try to gain as many points as humanly possible by shooting down these insect creatures. There was also Pac-man, Space Invaders, Gauntlet, Joust, and so-

"-Geez Vlad, I knew you were as uncreative with names as my parents but this is just sad," Daniel snickered when he happened upon my classic Castlevania game and pointed to the console's artwork where Dracula was wearing a similar cape to my own in ghost form. "You totally ripped off this guy's look!"

With an amused chuckle of my own as I strode up to him, I placed a hand on his shoulder and replied thoughtfully, "Looks like you caught me little badger. I did find a sort of poetic irony in using a similar design for my cape since the Dracula of this series was also betrayed by those he thought he could trust, and in fact this isn't even the original art, it's custom actually because the arcade game console was quite plain. You know Daniel, before you were born, back then we didn't have the luxury of cheat codes and ' _guides'_ and such so if we were going to get that invested in a game with the intention of beating it, we would spend hours if not days memorizing levels and patterns since you had to start over from the beginning every time you played. Save points didn't exist back then, at least not until the more popular games were ported to the new home gaming systems of the time. As you can probably imagine, I've always held a fascination with the supernatural to some degree. Although it wasn't until I met your parents that it really took off. You'd be surprised how much more skill, reflexes, and critical thinking some of these games require to succeed."

Smirking playfully, Daniel asked, "Oh really? Is that supposed to be a challenge? I bet I could kick your butt at most of these games in record time!"

"We'll see about that. And I know just the game to start with, follow me," guiding him by the shoulder I led Daniel to the last game tucked into a corner of the room that likely held the most nostalgia for me personally-

Dragon's Lair.

As expected Daniel started off strong but underestimated how quickly the player had to decide where to move and how there were other underhanded tricks and cruel moments of misdirection to make it more challenging. I helped him along a few times if only because I knew where to go and what to do by heart and it was painful to see him redo the same stage no less than five times in a row but after that he insisted I let him do it on his own so I was content simply to watch him play. Daniel seemed to be enjoying himself though and commented on how a few of these traps reminded him of ones he'd encountered on Skulker's Island or the Fright Knight's lair...

My smile faded slightly when he mentioned those incidents because as capable as Daniel is Skulker in particular could be very creative and cruel with his traps since hunting was nothing more than a thrilling sport for him. And the more dangerous the foe, the more glorious the prize which is why it was unnerving now that I was on Daniel's side how early on Skulker became obsessed with him as the ultimate prize for entirely different reasons than I did. I knew about it of course, Skulker told me himself when I hired him what he knew about Daniel's strengths and weaknesses since I had worked with him before a few times, but it wasn't until I used him to capture Daniel at the reunion that I began relying on him more to gain an edge over Daniel. Even so if I wanted Daniel to feel safe here I'd have to make sure if I did do any further business with him we would meet somewhere other than my castle from now on.

Daniel said so once himself; life isn't a game where you get an infinite number of chances. I couldn't afford to mess up with him again. Not when there was so much riding on this for both of us. And watching him struggle as I struggled back then even with only a game I couldn't help but remember what it had been like playing it for the very first time. I never used to concern myself with making friends since I already had a goal in mind for my future to make my parents proud, who by then had both passed, so when I met Jack and Maddie I-

No, none of that mattered anymore. Because for the first time since my parents left this world I felt like I had something real in my life again, something that was mine that truly meant something to me. While idly scanning the room for another game for Daniel to peruse, I quickly realized that sadly many of them were shooting games or co-op and I was concerned that any number of them could dredge up unpleasant memories for Daniel. Just looking at them was having that effect even on me since many of these were the sort of games I played with his parents during our free time back in our college days before the accident.

While I was distracted by unwanted memories of my own, Daniel had stopped playing Dragon's Lair and wandered over to one of the more recent games I purchased that I hoped he would enjoy later on and I turned when heard him sigh, "Oh man, Tucker would have loved this one, Cyber Zombie Shooter 4. Did you know they banned the second game in five countries? I forget the reason why but we sure did play a lot of the third one until some dork broke it when they spilled soda on the plug and fried the circuits. We called it poetic irony that the game was now zombified too because sometimes the screen would still flash whenever someone bumped into it since the guy who owned the place was too old to move it himself and just...left it there..." biting his lip he asked, "Did you ever play these games with my parents Vlad? You don't seem like the kinda guy that would have co-op games if there was no one to enjoy them with since you actually play a lot of these, or used to anyway. Do you collect them now because it's a hobby or...do you actually miss-"

Taking a deep breath, I nodded and explained curtly, "There's no use living in the past anymore Daniel. And yes I do collect these to remind me of happier times, but since I have other matters to attend to they do not see much use except for feeling nostalgic on occasion or one of my clients brings their children with them and I let them use this room to keep out of trouble. Though...it's gradually becoming more and more difficult to replace the older games even with my resources since they're becoming increasingly rare. I've replaced most of these at least twice now since that's how many times this castle has been demolished. I can replace almost all of this but most of it has never held that much sentimental value to me. So the few that do are worth preserving, even if it does mean living in the past to some degree even now." Giving Daniel a meaningful look, I suddenly felt the strong urge to embrace him but decided against it so as not to seem too vulnerable and instead placed my hand on the small of his back and said, "It's getting late, and I should probably let you get some rest before dinner since you didn't at all after returning from your flight."

Frowning, Daniel dug in his heels to halt our progress and grumbled, "Don't dodge the question Vlad. I know you were friends with my parents but they never told me how you guys even met! I don't know anything about you but you know all this stuff about me and if we're going to be living together I don't think that's very fair. At least I've known Sam and Tucker ever since kindergarten, and until all this happened we were inseparable! But now...you won't even let me talk to them and I miss them too ok? Don't you ever miss my mom and dad or hanging out with your other friends growing up when you're not bringing up that stupid accident? I know it's probably not something you want to talk about but I'm trying to get to know who you really are underneath it all, which I get is kinda scary even to you. Isn't that what you wanted? Or was that all just..."

After Daniel trailed off I dropped my hand from his back and sat down in one of the seats of the game he mentioned, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Daniel, please try to understand that things were very different back then and not all of my experiences even before the accident were pleasant. I had my whole future ahead of me, but that future was stolen because of a freak accident caused by the first person I let myself become close to after my parents passed away. And since I had no living relatives left to rely on, there were very few people I felt I could trust after what happened to them. You see my boy, I was an only child raised in a middle-class home and my father was a common business man that even at such a tender age I had always greatly admired. Meanwhile my mother was a lovely woman who used to spend her days teaching me to bake which she did almost every weekend for local charities and she loved to tell everyone how proud she was of her successful husband and her brilliant son who wanted to become a genetic engineer, a type of doctor. But then, tragedy struck a heavy blow on my family when my father suddenly took ill from a previously unknown disease and passed away no less than a year later. And in those days, it was looked down upon for a woman to try to raise a child by herself so my mother suffered greatly due to the careless comments of those she once considered friends who were secretly envious of our seemingly glamorous lives and the struggles she faced trying to raise her son alone." Lacing my fingers together and resting my knuckles against my forehead, despite trying to stay composed my voice shook ever so slightly as I further explained, "My mother was completely heartbroken after my father died. She tried to recover, but her grief was too great. She did her best to secure a future for me though before she passed. One last act of love from a mother to her only son. I was only able to afford the college tuition because she left me her life's savings in her will before she too left this world, and me, behind. That is why I took your father's betrayal so hard. It's because...my mother's last gift to me was the chance to make her and my father proud but Jack's negligence cost me everything. Even the one thing I wanted above all else. To marry a lovely woman and have a family with her so that my legacy could live on and the sacrifices they made for me would mean SOMETHING. I wasn't handed my future on a silver platter as you may have come to believe. Even your parents hardly had to give up anything to go to their dream school because Maddie's father was a General and Jack's was- well to be honest I don't quite remember what his father's profession was but his family came into some sort of inheritance and sent him on his merry way onto college with their newly acquired wealth along with Maddie since they grew up in the same small town. They knew of each other of course but if I remember correctly didn't start to become close until after I met them in college. At times I honestly wonder if I'd been better off without them. Then again...I never would have met you otherwise. Daniel, you cannot even begin to fathom how strange it is to share any of this with another living person. No idea."

"Vlad I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have..." Daniel began, his voice small and heavy with guilt but I took a deep breath and smiled sadly.

"It's quite alright Daniel. It happened a long time ago. I was very young when my father passed away and around 19 when my mother's health began failing her. I didn't tell you this to make you feel guilty my boy, if anything, I hope it helps you understand better why I took Jack's betrayal so hard. As for your friends I give you my word I will let you sort that out eventually but personally, I just want to protect you from the same heartache I've become all too familiar with that's all. It's your decision in the end though so forgive me if I wish to shelter and protect the last thing left in my life worth keeping close. You."

The silence that followed was almost deafening, even for me, when Daniel seemed to be at a loss and slowly let those words sink in. And again I wondered if the weight of those words was putting too much pressure on him but then I was surprised when he nudged my shoulder and smiled warmly, holding the other controller in his hand and offering it to me. "Here, you're going to need this."

Taking it I stared at Daniel, dumbfounded and uncertain as I glanced back at the other seat and asked, "Are you sure you can handle this Daniel? I chose the other game so you wouldn't be reminded of guns due to what happened with your parents. Don't feel like you have to force yourself on my account just because I told you about my past."

Rolling his eyes and unceremoniously dropping into the vacant game chair beside me Daniel grinned, "Oh please, as long as I'm the one shooting and not being shot at I should be fine. I'm not that sensitive about it anymore and it's not like they haven't shot at me before, same goes for you and I've been through worse. Sounds to me that you're just scared of losing to a kid. You might be the pro when it comes to those other games and most of your ghost powers, but I'm gonna give you a run for your money!"

Turning on the console, a wicked smile curled on my lips as I positioned myself better to face the screen and replied, "Challenge accepted."


	50. Momentary Relapse

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (9/29/2018):** Oh!Awesome! Looks like more people have realized I've returned from my hiatus and am working on the story again so thank you all so much for the reviews! Still, I'm just glad I can continue working on this without pushing myself too hard like with a lot of things lately. Also, if you're watching my Deviantart _"SecretSigil"_ or my DP tumblr _"The Soul's Pulse"_ I've made some new drawings, including two title cards for this fanfic and the show in general so when you get the chance go check them out!

* * *

Chapter 49: Momentary Relapse

* * *

Danny's POV

How crazy is it that after we got all of the emotional baggage stuff out of the way, I can honestly say I had a blast playing that mindless zombie-shooting game with Vlad? I think it surprised both of us at first and on top of that, once we really got into it he didn't hold back. I was worried Vlad might start treating me like I was made of glass or something since it looked like he still thought all those gun sounds were going to _"trigger"_ me somehow, which I guess makes sense, but thankfully once Vlad saw I was fine handling a toy gun it was like his childish side took over and he was as competitive as ever. I felt so relieved when he started acting normally too because THIS was more like the Vlad I was used to, well, you know, without him being a condescending jerk-wad obviously. I think we were neck and neck almost the entire time too even when I pulled out every trick in the book that I knew from playing the 3rd game so much before. Like how Vlad knew how to get past that one really confusing area in his Dragon's Lair game.

It wasn't until I looked at the nearest clock that I realized how long we'd been at it and I put the gun back in the console after we finished the last round. I felt guilty for wasting Vlad's time when I'm sure he was busy but Vlad just ruffled my hair and said he finished most of his work for the day much earlier and one of the perks of being your own boss is flexible hours.

Still, my smile faded a bit when he offered to show me back to my room and I shook my head. "No that's ok, I need to figure out my way around here on foot too anyways. You go on ahead. And Vlad...?"

"Hmm?" Vlad asked, holding the curtain aside for me with his arm as I hesitated before walking through.

"Thanks for telling me the truth. That you're just trying to look out for me. I know I can be a pain but it takes one to know one, right?" I smiled nervously and Vlad laughed.

"I suppose you have a point there little badger. And I understand that it will take awhile for you to get used to living here, which means you're bound to feel on edge until you've settled in and start to feel more at home. Once enough time has passed we'll see about your friends because at least in your case, as much as I'm loathe to admit it, at least their actions towards you were more out of fear and uncertainty then any true animosity. However, for the time being it's best not to speak to them until you've calmed down if what happened earlier was anything to judge by. It's for your own good Daniel, as I'm sure you understand now. I'm pleased that today seems to have gone relatively well though which is a good sign." Craning his neck to look back at me after Vlad closed the curtain behind us and walked ahead of me, while still walking slowly he asked, "Since its so late would you like me to have your meal sent to your room or..."

* * *

By the time we finished eating dinner together, since I still felt kinda weird eating in my room because normally I wasn't allowed to eat anywhere but the kitchen table, I was totally beat. At least physically anyway. In the back of my mind though I kept thinking back on everything Vlad told me tonight and...I can't believe my parents never told us Vlad lost both his parents. If they were respecting his privacy that's one thing but I'm not sure, and it's not like I can ask them anymore. I mean, did they even bother asking him about his family back when they were still hanging out? Maybe they didn't know about any of this either but it still doesn't excuse just ditching him like that when they're the ones who got Vlad hospitalized in the first place. So now I felt guilty about making all those _"old, alone, done for"_ kind of jokes during our battles because Vlad really was all alone, without a friend in the world or any family left. It made his whole obsession with making a new family with my mom or at least with me as his son all the more tragic...and sad now that I understood more of the reason behind it.

I guess I just always assumed that Vlad pushed my parents away out of anger then tricked himself into thinking they never visited him after the accident, not once. Turns out I was wrong about that too. Then again, considering how often mom and dad outright ignored me and Jazz growing up it wasn't THAT much of a stretch. My dad is almost as forgettable as a goldfish, and my mom's always so focused whenever they invent something new, and it's like everything else ceases to matter to them until it's done. Or in my dad's case, mostly done since he was so...trigger happy. No pun intended.

Great, here I go with the bad jokes again.

There were so many unanswered questions whirling around in my head; and every single one of them was making me question my parents, my old views of Vlad, and basically everything else in my life up until now. And sadly, even looking at my amazing starry roof didn't really help keep my mind off them either. Don't get me wrong, this room was impressive and huge but I needed some fresh air. The silence was starting to get to me and I needed to see some real stars, because at least they were familiar to me no matter where I was...

After that I walked out to the balcony Vlad mentioned before and immediately found the high-tech telescope he bought me. Man, what I wouldn't have given to have one of these bad boys back in Amity Park! These things were supposedly made of the same material used in their space shuttles too! For a few minutes I was so busy looking at it and tinkering with it that I couldn't believe my eyes when I finally looked up at the sky and I could see hundreds of stars glittering brightly in the darkness. I could only imagine how many more I couldn't see but it was breathtaking. Amity Park is a small town and there were a few places far enough from the city that you could see the stars, but I've never seen this many before!

Resting my arms on the railing I decided to just take in the view naturally. Right away I could see the North Star and from there the rest of the constellations I've grown to know and love. "It's funny how as a kid I used to think the stars could never change," I said to myself, sighing. "But so much has changed and I know better now. Even if I can't see it happening...its there. Somewhere up there a new star is forming while another just blinks out. Every day the stars are there, even when the sun is out, but they might as well be invisible like I used to be to mom and dad when I wanted to shine, to be seen. So why is it that its like I'm seeing Vlad for the first time even though all he told me was that-"

" _...I had my whole future ahead of me, but that future was stolen because of a freak accident caused by the first person I let myself become close to after my parents passed away. And since I had no living relatives left to rely on, there were very few people I felt I could trust after what happened to them..."_

I shivered at the thought of how familiar that sounded, how one huge event tore his life apart because of a simple and innocent mistake on my dad's part. I saw him make that mistake too, and I saw what could have been for Vlad but he wasn't happy in that timeline, not really, and neither was my mom. Still, in Dan's timeline I was the one who made the mistake. I was the one who screwed up everyone's lives and...I don't want to ruin Vlad's again. I had so much fun with him earlier too which is what scares me. If I get too close to Vlad won't I be giving him false hope that I'll stay here with him forever...?

"That could have been me. I could've become just like Vlad if...," I said aloud, my voice shaking a little. "But I don't want to be like Vlad. I don't want to hate my friends because they made a mistake, we all made mistakes. And at least theirs won't result in the entire world getting messed up! Just...please..." hugging myself I blinked the tears from my eyes and asked with all my heart, "...please let this work. I know Vlad can change. He HAS changed, and I don't have to become like him to help him be a better person at least in my life because all I want is for Vlad to be on my side. That's all I ever wanted. I don't need all this fancy stuff, I just need him to make sure I don't become someone much worse then he could ever be."

* * *

Later that night, I jerked awake when I suddenly heard the door to my room creak open slowly but surely with my ghost hearing. I wound up staring at the stars for at least an hour before deciding that I'd better climb in bed and at least try to sleep even though I still had a lot on my mind. Turns out just laying down helped and I was out like a light before I knew it. Still, the room was so dark and I totally forgot where the nearest light source was, and even if I did I wanted to see what this was all about first.

Every muscle in my body was tense on reflex even though I tried to keep my act together; but after being forced awake either by my ghost sense or an actual ghost trying to get the jump on me it wasn't easy for me to resist snapping into battle mode and launching an attack to protect myself. And while I pretended to still be asleep, rather poorly I might add, I heard the distinct sound of footsteps approaching my bed. I knew it was Vlad, because duh who else would it be? I felt a little unnerved by the fact that I couldn't sense anything, but like I said, tried to stay calm. After all he wasn't going to hurt me. This was probably just Vlad being a creeper as usual or maybe...he was worried about me and came to see if I was alright?

When the footsteps came to a stop and I felt the bed dip a little, Vlad shook my shoulder softly to wake me up just long enough to make sure I was fine and asked in a hushed tone, "Daniel? Are you alright? I heard you cry out in your sleep..."

Confused, I opened my eyes but it was still too dark to see his face so I replied, "I did? I don't remember having another nightmare though." Sitting up and rubbing my eyes, my vision adjusting to the dim lighting at least well enough to see Vlad's outline sitting on the edge of my bed, I asked, "Are you sure you didn't just imagine it? See, I'm fine. I've been sleeping better then I have in awhile actually. This bed is really comfortable. "

I smiled even though Vlad probably couldn't see it, I heard him sigh heavily and confess, "That's a relief. Sorry, I didn't mean to wake you for no reason my boy. I was just worried about you. I think the stress of being a new father is starting to get to me after all too."

"A...father?" I asked, now seriously confused and that's when a lump started to form in my throat and my heart started racing when I realized something was off.

Raising my hand, I was about to light the room with my ghost powers when Vlad grabbed it with his hand to stop me and his voice was filled with so much desperation and guilt when he blurted out, "I know you're still not too happy about the idea after everything I've done to you but Daniel...I just want you to know that I'll always be here for you. I won't leave your side, no matter what. _You can't get rid of me that easily_ -"

Now really freaked out when his voice warped a bit at the end of that sentence, I tried to pull away from Vlad but then his eyes started to glow red and in the time it took me to blink, his black rings appeared and transformed him into-! "AAAAAAAAHHHHH! NO! LET GO! LET GO OF ME!"

"Daniel! Snap out of it! You're dreaming! It's not real!" the real Vlad's voice cried out and the instant I heard him, my eyes snapped open and I lurched forward, barely noticing how the sheets beneath me were soaked in sweat.

Chest heaving, I struggled to catch my breath and then noticed right away that Vlad had turned the lights on so I could see him clearly and he was staring at me worriedly from the open doorway before he slowly lowered his ecto-shield and stepped further inside the room. Looking around in a panic, I also noticed a few of the only loose items in the room were haphazardly strewn across the floor as if someone had thrown them. Did I do all that telepathically or something? Like I did down in Vlad's lab in Amity Park when...

"Oh thank goodness!" Vlad gasped, rushing to my side once he saw I was coherent again for the most part and embraced me protectively. "I heard you scream and thought you were under attack again by this Dan creature and I almost panicked when I saw things floating around you and thought you were having another episode. None of my alarms went off either so I had to come see for myself what was wrong! Are you hurt? God you're shaking like a leaf..." pulling away only slightly to look me over he asked, "It's not your core acting up so...what on earth happened Daniel?"

Unable to form words yet past the lump in my throat I followed my instincts and buried my face in his silk robe and broke out into tears. That dream, it felt so real! It was like Dan was right there, holding my wrist. It almost felt like a burn, like it was feverish but then cold when you pour water on it because your skin is so sensitive. I was too scared to look at it. I was too scared to do anything and I felt like an idiot, a big baby for letting something like this get to me. I hated myself for it. What the hell was wrong with me!? I managed to have a good time with Vlad so why was I like this?! WHY?


	51. Rectify

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (10/2/2018):** It's time guys, this is where we start to get to get into the really touchy-feely stuff, aka the meat of the story where I start letting Vlad and Danny bond more deeply then ever before, leading up the eventual Dan reveal where I tear your little hearts out! Muahahahahaha! Also, omg it's October already? Holy crap! Well, guess that means I'll have to start making more spooky art and such, might even try my hand at drawing the Fright Knight since he IS the Spirit of Halloween after all!

* * *

Chapter 50: Rectify

(Chapter inspired by This Is The Time by Superchick)

* * *

Vlad's POV

A part of me already understood the most likely reason why Daniel had suffered yet another nightmare, but the other part of me was absolutely livid by the fact that there was no way for me to know for sure if this was one of his normal nightmares or something induced on purpose by Dan! And with Daniel sobbing like this I wasn't going to get an answer anytime soon, so instead I focused on comforting him and rubbing small circles on his back to outwardly appear composed to conceal how furious I truly was. It's been so long since I lowered my guard like that and lost myself in such a simple and pointless activity, and Daniel proved to be quite the challenger which made my time bonding with him all the more enjoyable. More than that I felt...like a weight I did not know I was still carrying on my shoulders had been lifted simply by telling him the truth about just how alone I've felt since parting ways with his parents and losing my own.

Given everything he's been through lately I shouldn't be surprised this happened Daniel's first night here where he wasn't utterly exhausted from stabilizing his ghost core like he was the previous night. This, to me, was both a good and bad thing because it meant Daniel has finally recovered enough that he's self-generating ecto-energy again, which like mine worked symbiotically with his human side as a sort of adrenaline. However, it also meant that all of Daniel's senses were heightened again and as a result he was feeling restless. Therefore he needed to use that energy for something more than a few games that only required wrist movements and focus. I also gave him a lot more to think about concerning his parents and I on top of everything else, so this whole mess was partly my fault...

"I'm sorry..." Daniel sniffled, his voice weak from sobbing so hard.

"You have nothing to apologize for my boy. As long as you're not hurt I'm-" I began but Daniel cut me off by gripping fists full of his raven hair and shaking his head in denial.

"No, it's not ok! Why am I like this Vlad? I thought I was doing fine! I really thought we had a good time with you earlier despite acting like such a demanding brat before. And I finally got to learn something more about you as a person too. Heck, I felt a little better after you told me that you aren't going to keep me isolated from my friends forever. I shouldn't be like this, I shouldn't be such a screw up! I shouldn't let something like that shake me so easily...something like that..."

After looking away from me with those glossy eyes, as if ashamed of something, I quickly realized that Daniel's nightmare had something to do with me. I was touched by how ashamed he felt to admit that, by simply knowing Daniel didn't see me as someone worth hating anymore. It's possible his dream began normally then caught him off guard with something which could explain a lot. Or perhaps he was dreaming about that future self of mine that helped him but Dan-

"Daniel, look at me. This is very important," I began, my voice harsh and business-like and I didn't say anything more until Daniel turned to face me with an almost fearful look in his eyes as more tears spilled over his cheeks. "Did you see anything out of the ordinary, anything at all, or feel anything strange afterwards or during your nightmare? And if so, do you believe that Dan has attacked you mentally again or was it like all of your other nightmares up until now?"

Swallowing past the lump in his throat Daniel explained, "I'm-I'm not sure...but somehow I doubt it was another attack from Dan though, mental or otherwise since your alarms didn't go off. But I really don't know. For the last, what? Month? Something has ALWAYS happened to me as soon as I let my guard down. Nightmares, hallucinations, core problems, and behavior I can't explain, most of which you've already seen. I think after a while a part of me started to see all of it as normal. The constant tension in the air always keeping me on my toes, the fear, the ghost fighting, so I guess when I finally had a day that felt so...normal even for someone who isn't half-ghost I didn't know how to react to it. Who knows, maybe I made this drama in my head because of all the doom and gloom that seems to be a popular trend for me lately. I think I'm just feeling really restless now that I'm getting better, Vlad. I can't help it! So hey, you mentioned sparring before, right? I might feel up for that now. Clearly if I'm making my own excitement it might be a sign I need to find and do something with it in a more productive way, and not create the jump scare variety in my head like this. Can we go do that now? Please? I don't...I don't want to have another nightmare! I slept better back when I was still sick because I was too tired to dream right? Right?!"

I could hear the panicked desperation in his voice and it broke my heart, but training this late at night wasn't going to do Daniel any good. No, we had to think about this more carefully. And more importantly, this proved that Dan needed to be destroyed sooner rather then later or Daniel was never going to feel safe again, especially with me since I had something to do with his creation and disposing of most of my cloning research obviously wasn't going to be enough...

"As much as I admire your tenacity, it's late Daniel and you need to go back to sleep. And before you ask, no, I'm afraid sedating you is out of the question for the same reason as before. Relying on such things won't help you, and neither will trying to train your nightmares away, not like this," his shoulders fell in defeat but I grabbed them gently and told him, "So we'll do the next best thing. I'll stay with you until you fall asleep and tomorrow morning we'll...think of some way to deal with this. Alright?"

"I just...hate this..." Daniel murmured blinking more tears from his eyes. "I hate myself for a lot of things right now but, that's the whole problem, isn't it?"

"What is Daniel?" I asked quietly.

Taking a deep breath, Daniel looked at me helplessly and confessed, "I'm so used to hating your guts, to fighting ghosts, and without that I guess I started feeling like I don't know who I am anymore. I don't...even know who my parents are anymore! So, God, I dunno, maybe those things you said got to me after all and I didn't realize it. Just...forget about it Vlad, I'll-"

"-handle it yourself?" I finished with a knowing smile before letting go of his shoulders and standing up, hands resting behind my back. "I know you can. Normally, that is. This is different though. And yes, to be fair I think we're both used to handling these sorts of hardships on our own. But you no longer have to endure everything on your own and suffer in silence anymore Daniel! Don't you see that? I promise, things WILL get better. It will take time, so it's naive for either us to expect things to be perfect after only one good day. I'm doing everything I can, but I need your help my boy, which is something I never thought I'd say once let alone as many times as I have to you, of all people," turning around, I scanned the room for the nearest chair and promptly brought it over to his bedside and sat down again, took him by the shoulders again to ease him back into a laying position before pulling the comforter back over him and finishing with, "Now, try to get some sleep little badger."

"Sorry..." he muttered again, closing his eyes and exhaling a long shaky breath.

"Shh, sleep Daniel. We'll talk about it more in the morning," I replied in my most soothing tone and like when he was bedridden with fever, I began idly stroking his hair, ignoring his initial flinch at the contact. A shame Maddie was off wondering the castle getting used to things herself, I'm sure Daniel would have welcomed her company rather than mine.

Still, my eyes flashed red at the possibility of this being yet another mind game concocted by Dan. Well, two could play that game! Once I found that monster that was hurting my little badger like this I was going to tear him apart! My most immediate goal however was giving Daniel an outlet for more than just his ice powers. I still wasn't sure if he ready though...

* * *

Danny's POV

Vlad kept his word about staying with me until I fell asleep, in fact I'm surprised he didn't stay there all night when I opened my eyes and he was gone. I found a note on the dresser next to my bed though telling me that he went ahead and tidied up the room for me and was waiting for me in the dining room. Thankfully I knew where it was now since we ate in the dining room at least a few times but I wasn't looking forward to talking about last night. I felt so stupid and embarrassed, and it was even worse now since I wound up crying like that and Vlad had to stay with me like I was a little kid worrying about monsters under the bed. Well enough was enough! I was sick of being treated like a little kid so the one thing that could fix it was to start using my powers again.

I don't care if it's against actual ghosts, a training dummy, or a mock battle with Vlad I was just so angry at myself for losing it last night that I wanted to hit something really REALLY hard. After that I basically threw on the first outfit that caught my eye and chugged a glass of water before splashing the rest in my face to wake me up. Then I pretty much made my way there in an irritated daze before I blinked, slowed down and realized how bad it would look if I walked in there scowling. I didn't want Vlad to keep worrying about me like this. And most of all, I didn't want him asking too much about my nightmares because half the time I could hardly remember them anyway and when I did, I wish I couldn't.

Patting my cheeks a few times, I took a deep breath and wordlessly walked into the room and sat down in what's probably going to be my usual spot from now on. I glanced over at Vlad unsurely when he didn't look up or say anything when I know darn well he knew I was here. The guy was like a human radar when it came to me, and I'd like to learn how he suppresses his ghost signature like that at some point. That's part of the reason I forced myself to wake up this morning and climb out of that comfy bed. I couldn't let myself slip into a false sense of security, not again. Now that I was better I wanted...I wanted to get stronger so things like this couldn't get to me so easily. If Dan really was making me have these dreams then I needed to have a way to fight back in them and out of them for my sake and Vlad's. I couldn't let him get too close to the truth because I honestly don't know what it'll do to him...

When Vlad didn't so much as say good morning when he took the lid off his food tray and began eating while reading his newspaper so I started to get both really irritated and nervous all at the same time. Was he really not going to say anything? Did Vlad expect me to admit how badly I screwed up and how crappy I felt about letting that stupid nightmare about Dan get to me like that?

Clenching my fists under the table, I used the nervousness I was feeling to bring up what happened last night to just get it over with and glared at him as I blurted out, "Well, aren't you going to say anything?"

Vlad didn't answer right away but instead took a sip of coffee and set the newspaper down, finally looking at me as he responded casually, "If you are referring to what happened last night, I thought it best not to bring it up right away so you could gather your thoughts. I know you don't like it when I interrogate you too much either my boy. Of course I want to know what happened last night, but seeing as nothing else happened after the fact once you feel asleep, I returned to my chambers and double-checked my security readings to make sure it wasn't Dan manipulating you again. So unless you tell me otherwise, I have to assume it was a normal nightmare brought on by overwhelming you with all of that information regarding my past. I apologize for giving you so much more to reflect on when you already have other concerns though. As for the nightmares themselves, there's really very little I can do unless we-"

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about this morning," I cut him off, trying to look absolutely serious when I met his guarded but curious gaze. "I know I was freaking out last night because of what I saw but, you DO realize I was serious about being ready to train now...right?"

Unable to mask his feelings anymore, Vlad stared at me in wide-eyed shock and asked, "Are you quite sure about this? You seemed pretty distraught after your nightmare. Is that a commitment you're really ready to make? I'll admit that you've recovered a lot more quickly then even I expected but we can't overdo it like we did when your core started acting up."

I nodded, "Yeah, I'm dead serious. If last night proved anything to me it's that I can't let my guard down yet. If this is really about more then me being just messed up in the head because of all the things I saw and what happened to me, I need to start training with my powers again to get stronger and get my confidence back. I can't keep running to you for help with everything. I was doing fine before all of this and once I'm doing things again I'll feel like I'm not just a waste of space even here with nothing to contribute. Isn't this what we both wanted from the start anyways? Especially you? I don't want you to go back on your promise and chicken out now just because I had a bad dream...I'm not planning to either. So yeah I want this. Don't make it weird..."

After that, I swear with how brightly Vlad was smiling now he could have been literally glowing and it would have looked dim in comparison. He wasted no time in standing up and casually walking up to me, his dark blue eyes sparkling with glee like that time I tricked him in the Rockies and called him my new dad. That's one of the only other times I've seen him THIS happy about something. And looking back on it now, even then, outside of his scheming, Vlad was genuinely happy when I said that and believed it was true which made me feel like kind of a jerk for using that sort of thing against him. To be fair though, Vlad DID try to kill me by shorting out my powers and sending his latest ghost-experiments chasing me through the woods. Then again, maybe Vlad figured I wasn't in too much danger since I was smarter then I looked plus my mom was there to protect me, guess he assumed she'd save me and come crawling back to him after realizing how dangerous those woods were even for her and...wow, Vlad really did have everything planned out fives steps ahead of everyone. God that's still creepy to think about.

Beaming with pride and excitement Vlad drew my attention back to him when he said, "Well Daniel, if that is your answer...then I eagerly accept your request to train! I'm happy to see my little badger regain some of his vigor I feared he lost to recent events, but here you are asking ME to train without any provocation on my end! I'm proud of you for taking charge of your fate again my boy! Trust me, you won't regret this decision! Soon you'll truly be a force to be reckoned to the point that you could easily defeat even the Ghost King under my guidance. We'll get started right away. So eat your breakfast and change into something more suitable and I'll show you to the training room."


	52. Let Me Save You

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (10/8/2018):** Don't let the chapter name fool you, I have something very special in mind so be sure to pay close attention...it's important.

* * *

Chapter 51: Let Me Save You

(Chapter inspired by Monsters by Katie Sky)

* * *

Danny's POV

At first, I honestly had no idea what Vlad meant by _'something more suitable'_ until I realized he was talking about my hazmat suit. So, I transformed after finishing my breakfast and cleared my throat to let him know I was ready. Vlad had long since finished his own and even though he was pretending to I could tell that Vlad wasn't reading his newspaper since his eyes weren't moving at all. And then there was also that sly grin on his face, a grin that Vlad wasn't even trying to hide anymore.

Who knew it would be so easy to get him so excited? Then again, Vlad's been wanting this almost as much as I have ever since we met. That didn't make that smile of his any less creepy though. It was like Vlad was already daydreaming about all of the things we were going to do together from now on. Well, all I can say to that is it's a good thing taking over the world isn't on his to-do list anymore, because I didn't want any part of that nonsense.

And here he thought my hero complex was childish...

After clearing my throat again more loudly, I put my hands on my hips and gave him a look, asking, "So, are we doing this or what?"

Raising an eye brow at me, Vlad neatly folded his paper and set it aside before explaining with a light chuckle, "Daniel, I'm afraid you misunderstood me. It's still too soon to train with your powers so I have something else in mind. What I meant is for you to change into something more comfortable for exercising in. I believe you have a tank-top among your clothing I brought from home, don't you? I plan to change in the locker room near the training room as well."

"Wait what?" I blinked, changing back. "But I thought we were going to train with my ghost powers!"

"We will, eventually," Vlad smiled, pushing his chair back before explaining a bit more seriously, "However it has come to my attention that your ghost core isn't the only thing that's suffering from an imbalance. I'm afraid your ghost-half is as well my boy. There's still plenty of room for growth though and I intend to make sure that you reach your maximum potential so that no one ghost nor human will be able to touch you. You already have the raw skill from being forced into all of those dangerous and potentially life-threatening situations. And like me, after obtaining your ghost powers you sadly lacked the proper guidance and direction from someone more experienced to bring out the best of you. You've only fought to survive until now, which has pushed you to extremes which has served you well to a point but now it's time to hone your skills further since this time you DO have someone who can show you how best to balance out both halves. Walk with me Daniel, I'll explain more along the way. What you're wearing now will have to do I suppose since I doubt anything of mine would fit you..."

Curious, I followed after Vlad, jogging every once in awhile just to keep up since his pace was a lot faster then I expected. He noticed me lagging behind a bit but didn't say anything and told me a bit more about his past when it came to his powers and how he trained. I've always wondered about that. Vlad's had his powers for 20 plus years so it made sense that he had to go through a lot of the same things I did; though I guess one of the advantages of not being a teenager when it happened is that Vlad was more or less able to live somewhere on his own away from other people to train in secret once he got out of the hospital. I felt bad when he told me that his stay at the hospital before finally being discharged lasted about five years and Vlad had to visit the hospital regularly for at least another three before being declared completely cured of his ecto-acne, which they called _'radiation poisoning'_ since only my parents knew what the real cause was.

After that Vlad moved back to his hometown for a bit and jogged the forest trails he'd grown up using every morning and went to the local gym when no one was there at night to train with his ghost powers. Obviously Vlad didn't tell me what he did the rest of the time but I had a feeling it involved a lot of plotting against my dad eventually, ghost-related experiments, robbing banks, and you know, all of that bad-guy junk. Thinking about it still left a bitter taste in my mouth but it was a part of who Vlad was. I couldn't hold it against him, especially now that he was finally getting over some of it thanks to what we've been through together lately. So I listened to him basically explain how because his transformation was much more gradual then mine Vlad did everything he could think of to make sure both halves of himself were as strong and healthy as possible to avoid problems in the future, plus he studied his own ghost DNA to take care of his own medical needs which is how he came up with that ecto-restorative stuff Vlad used to help me.

When Vlad asked me if I've done any sort of weight lifting and stuff when we finally made it to his training room, well, the door to it anyway I groaned. "Believe me, I've tried but there was just never any time to even think about going to the gym which I only started to seriously consider after my powers were shorted out by one of my dad's inventions that shrunk Dash and me and we basically had to make it back to the Op-center alive while Skulker was chasing us while making sure Dash didn't find out the truth about me. Figures he thinks Danny Phantom is the coolest guy ever but hates the real me. It was like _'Honey We Shrunk Ourselves'_ but with a crazy ghost trying to kill us and at one point I had to overshadow a rat and then-"

"Slow down Daniel, are you telling me that your father invented a...shrink ray?" Vlad asked with a mixture of disgust and morbid curiosity.

I nodded and shrugged, "Dude, have you met my parents? They've invented almost every cliche science thing known to man and made it ghost-related. You should know, from the spying and stuff. Believe me, after that happened I really wanted to start doing more in human form too but...between how things were at home, at school, and how I barely had time to even catch up on my sleep most of the time I just gave up on it and focused on my ghost powers since I needed those more anyway like you said to make sure I wasn't pushing up daisies in the morning. I tried using the gym at school a few times but either a ghost always showed up or Dash and his buddies would take over and force me to leave, if I even got that lucky and they didn't use ME as the punching bag. So, ok I was kinda surprised we're not training with my ghost powers but I'll admit, I'm kind of looking forward to this too. As long as it has the desired effect and isn't totally pointless I'm all for it!"

Vlad nodded in approval but frowned at the mention of Dash bullying me and added, "You know Daniel, I stand by what I told you once before, you didn't have to subject yourself to that boy's adolescent foolery. Even if you're too noble to use your powers against him...I wonder why to this day you've never thought to use those sharp wits of yours to your advantage Daniel, since that hardly requires physical force. You're smarter then everyone gives you credit for. And more importantly I know you're smarter then you give yourself credit for as well. Honestly, you could have spared yourself so much torment by simply putting that jock in his place with a few choice words."

"Maybe..." I answered quietly, "But then I wouldn't have been true to myself if I became the bully instead like I almost did that one time. I'm better then that...aren't I?" Realizing I meant to say that to myself and not out loud I blushed and looked away, not wanting to see the odd expression that flitted across Vlad's face as if I basically just told him I thought of HIM as the bully.

* * *

Vlad's POV

Choosing to ignore the uncertainty in Daniel's voice when he made his last comment, I showed him to the new training room and was pleased to see everything was set up exactly as I instructed. It was more or less a personal gym on the surface that also lead to my simulation chamber where Daniel and I would be doing advanced training with his powers before too long. Perhaps while we were here I would ask Daniel to let the computer run a diagnostic so that the room wouldn't attack him on sight since for now it was only set up to prevent him from entering the room by accident while flying through the castle.

Once Daniel was settled I asked him to wait for me while I changed into my work out clothes. No doubt Daniel's expression was going to be priceless upon seeing me in anything aside from my business attire, but he would soon discover that even I enjoyed wearing casual clothing from time to time and I didn't solely have suits in my wardrobe. True, for the most part I simply wore them out of habit or because I was in fact working on running my businesses and needed to look the part but now that I had his measurements I wanted to hire a tailor to see to Daniel's wardrobe as well to replace the rest of those old rags he was still carrying around.

I may have given them to him to make sure Daniel felt more comfortable and had a little piece of home, but with any luck, once he began filling out more he'd outgrow them anyway and NEED new clothes. Not that Daniel suspected that was part of my plan of course, but I at least I've caught a glimpse of how stylish my little badger looks when tidied up. Honestly, if we reached a point where I could bring him out in public I'm sure it will surprise him to discover that part of the reason girls never noticed him in Casper High was partly due to his poor taste in clothes that made him look more like a twelve year old child then a fifteen year old young man.

Speaking of which, Daniel would need to get his learners permit soon as well now that he's turned fifteen. I kept thinking about those sorts of things as if Daniel really was my son but I hesitated upon reaching for my work out clothes, as much as I wanted this to last there was always the chance it wouldn't and I could let my obsession with him cloud my judgment like before. If I lose control again, I could very well lose Daniel forever. This situation was still extremely delicate and I had nearly forgotten about the looming threat of this creature haunting his waking dreams. I knew about his nightmares of course but to see his face twisted in such fear and agony...it troubled me deeply. I hated seeing him like that. I hated it now more then ever since Daniel was in my care now which meant I had to do something about this before things could escalate again. He was right about one thing, it was too soon to let our guard down just yet and if I had anything to say in the matter I was going to make sure Daniel was powerful enough to destroy this being with his own two hands to prove to himself that there was nothing he couldn't accomplish and overcome. And if Daniel didn't have the strength to do it himself...

I would do it for him.

I may not be the villain in his life anymore, but, because Daniel was so precious to me I found myself longingly hoping that I could become a hero in his eyes. I wanted to see Daniel look at me the same way he did the day we met, if only once more. I wanted to see him always wear that carefree and rascal-like smile brighten his face like it had while we were competing against each other in that game. That was my real little badger right there, the one I loved more then anything. And I could tell that for a moment our pasts didn't matter, we were together in that moment and never wanted it to end. I could only hope that there were more of those moments to come and I was going to do my damnedest -pardon my language- to ensure that Daniel would never have to doubt if he had a future anymore because I would give him one whether it was back in Amity Park or here with me. Because from now on...I wasn't going to keep letting him fight through life alone. He had me. And he would always have me...whether Daniel wanted me there or not.

* * *

? ? ? ?

Things were progressing just like they were always meant to. Whether they accepted it or not, in the end, they were meant to be together in one form or another for better or worse. It was destiny. Though destiny has a funny way of bringing people together and ending one part of the story. From here Danny could only grow stronger and in turn Vlad would start to feel things the man thought he'd long since forgotten...

It takes two to form a bond, but only one or more to destroy it. For while Danny was recovering from the wounds his old life left on him, his friends and family were forced to live in a world without him for once and realize just how big a part of their lives he was all along. Funny how you don't know what you've lost until it's gone, a constant friend, a constant smile and a greeting at the door now only met with silence. When he was there, Danny might as well have been intangible. No one saw him, even when he was right there. No one heard him, even when he was crying out for help. No one could understand his pain and could only see their own because they weren't as strong as him.

It wasn't like any of them were special so it was as though they were constantly dragging him down with them since they were the ones who couldn't see past their own plans for his future and shape him to their liking just as much as Vlad wanted to. Sam, the girl with feelings for her best friend she refused to voice because she thought it would ruin her friendship with him and their other friend and she assumed Danny was always blind to her feelings just because he never admitted them either and had his own way of doing things and didn't always agree with her; Tucker, the ever loyal friend whose loyalty was second only to his fascination with technology to disguise his longing to be even half as incredible as his best friend Danny Fenton who at least knew what he wanted to be when he grew up and girls noticed him; Jazz, the loving sister who always believed in her little brother but never once tried to treat him solely as her brother and not someone she had to fix since she tried and failed to get their parents to change; Valerie, the naive yet fiercely determined young woman who would stop at nothing to get rid of the ghost boy that she blamed for ruining her life and everyone elses until it finally began to dawn on her once her hated enemy was finally gone...that new ones who cared nothing for their victims were endangering not one family, but the lives of everyone in Amity Park now that their hero was nowhere to be found; and finally, Danny's parents who for the first time in their lives also realize the danger they've put everyone in creating that portal and yet it was now their only clue to saving their son who they felt duty bound to bring home.

In the end, the supposed heroes of the story have come to realize that they're not so selfless as they used to believe and pushed the real one away who let them take and take and take until the only thing left was his wish for freedom; away from their agendas, away from the constant fear of failure, for his life, and the harassment he suffered at the hands of friend and foe alike. And now, the person they all thought was the villain, was the only one who could save Danny now.

The only one who could save him...

...from himself.


	53. Strained Relationships

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (10/11/2018):** I legit almost started crying after reading the last two reviews, particularly the one from _"keishinaruka."_ You guys have no idea how much work I put into this even though it's only a fanfic by brainstorming ideas with my beta-reader/best friend. I have notes with snippets about the entire thing and scenes that I have planned out, so whenever I start feeling down or need some inspiration to keep going I look back on everyone's reviews so far. After getting something so in depth though, which doesn't happen very often, it made me feel like this whole journey has been totally worth it. And I'm writing this story as much for myself as I am for you lovely fans because it has helped me put into words some of the struggles I've gone through too in my life but I'll spare you the details. And in this story at least Vlad can be a pillar of strength for Danny because he lets him be himself, although sadly, Danny's still afraid of becoming the wrong _'self'_ and disappointing Vlad too or being rejected by the only person he has left to rely on directly in his life since he's still young and needs a real parental figure in it. Anyways sorry for dragging this out but just know that we're going to be doing a bit of a time skip here in this next chapter since the last one was an important milestone and we're ramping up to some more serious character building moments! Thank you for all of your continued support so far and I hope you continue to enjoy this beautiful mess!

* * *

Chapter 52: Strained Relationships

* * *

Vlad's POV

It's been over a month now since Daniel began staying with me in Wisconsin. He's had a few nightmares since the one that motivated us to begin his training, but thankfully none of them have been nearly as intense. We've both started to notice the results of his training too, which as intended is helping him become strong and fit again. And for the most part Daniel seems genuinely happy having a somewhat normal routine again despite the lack of ghost fighting. I've even arranged for a personal tutor to help him with his studies starting next week to continue his education since training alone wasn't going to be enough to keep him occupied forever. Especially because lately I've been rather busy either attending to my businesses, mostly Axion Labs, or scouring the Ghost Zone in secret for any hint of this Dan while Daniel was asleep. There hasn't been much luck so far, but considering the fact that this being was from an alternate future this was to be expected...

Still, I couldn't help but notice Daniel's been acting a little odd the past few days. I've seen him wandering the castle not really looking like he had a destination in mind or I'd see him on the balcony staring at nothing. During our meals together his replies seemed almost automated, as if his mind was on something else. I tried asking him about it but his smile seemed a bit forced and Daniel insisted he was just tired, and that it was nothing to worry about. That's when it dawned on me that perhaps it was time to let Daniel talk to his sister again, since the problem might be because he's feeling homesick.

His mood brightened a little when I told Daniel the good news after giving his sister a call to let her know my plans and to arrange a good time for them to talk. I felt troubled however by what Jasmine told me to keep from her brother so that she could tell him herself. Thankfully, because of their growing fear of losing Jasmine too Jack and Maddie have finally humbled themselves and asked her to come back home. She admitted that recently she's been missing them too. And at least they've been trying to fight ghosts more to help those who couldn't afford personal ghost shields yet than to interrogate them about Danny Phantom, especially once it became clear that even his usual enemies had no idea what had become of him.

Some of them took this as an opportunity to take over the town because they either wanted to claim my anonymous reward, or because they just felt like it. Meanwhile other ghosts flat out decided that messing with Amity Park's citizens just wasn't as fun anymore without Danny Phantom around to fight with so they stopped appearing as often. As predicted Miss Valerie has taken up the mantle of resident ghost hunter since it turns out that Danny Phantom did a lot more for their fair city then they realized. Even Jack and Maddie were becoming more useful by helping in that endeavor then the Guys in White, who only showed up every once in awhile to record energy readings and clean up the mess so they could take and study ectoplasmic samples. Typical. And from what I've heard of Miss Grey from my other sources, she's the one that's been acting more violent against ghosts since she hates them now more then ever for taking Daniel away and the poor girl was in denial about something terrible having possibly befallen him due to the fact that he's been missing for well over two months now. I found myself actually feeling concerned for her wellbeing since I had no idea she once had feelings for Daniel much like his childhood friend Samantha.

Speaking of which, apparently Daniel's friends have stopped hunting ghosts for the time being since it's been getting much harder not to get caught sneaking out of school and Mr. Foley sprained his wrist after a nasty spill while fighting Technus last week. As for Samantha, her mood has been gloomier than usual because her friend got hurt and she still blamed herself for saying those terrible things to Daniel when they last spoke. Good, it serves that little smart-mouthed-brat right to taste the bitterness of her poorly chosen words. However, as usual it was Daniel I was more concerned about once he had done basically all there was to do here in the castle, which made him feel lonelier than ever. I always felt guilty whenever I was too busy to spend time with him or we were so focused on training that we hardly said a word to one another. That's why I thought taking lessons for school again and having homework would help him since he would have plenty of time to study unlike before and turn his assignments in on time...

It's such a shame I can't take him out in public with me yet since he's still a missing person, and the risk of him being exposed to the media was too great because of my social standing. At some point though Daniel needs to be around other people again. Staying isolated like this was only going to make him feel worse over time because unlike me he was an extrovert, a person who thrived off of spending time with his loved ones and protecting people. Of course, we also enjoyed our down time together doing other things, but I could tell Daniel was feeling lonely even in my presence and that wouldn't do at all.

I was the exact opposite except when it came to Daniel because most people to me are just so...oppressive. This is mostly due to my current status as a multi-billionaire though since most of the people I interact with nowadays are always either attempting to get an edge over me, to become my equal, failing astronomically to seem superior because of something they were doing in the business world, or they fell all over themselves trying to please me and gain my approval. I found the whole thing extremely tiring. And at times I even missed my old days as a social outcast because at least I could walk into a grocery store and none would be the wiser.

I suppose that's why I enjoyed doing the sort of things I used to do when I was younger with Daniel because it was common ground we could both relate to on some level. But as much as our time together meant the world to me, I wasn't so blinded by the simple joy it brought me that I didn't notice when Daniel's heart just wasn't in it. And while I wasn't going to force my presence on him, at the same time I worried about leaving him alone too long while this dark cloud was hanging over him.

That's why I sincerely hoped that talking to his sister would help lift his spirits...

* * *

Danny's POV

Sitting cross legged on my bed again after giving Jazz a virtual tour of my room, I set the laptop down and gave her an abbreviated version of everything that's happened since I moved here with Vlad. I told her about finding out about my core element, working out every day, exploring the castle top to bottom, and a little bit about Vlad's past that I felt it was safe to share. Obviously I left out the fact that I was still having nightmares and about most of the other Dan-related stuff because I didn't want her to think we couldn't handle it. At the same time though I know how annoyed Jazz gets whenever she catches me lying so I told her the bare minimum when it came to my feelings and my other problems.

Who knows, maybe Vlad's lying skills were rubbing off on me, but I've been getting a lot better at telling half-truths while leaving out the rest. That is, unless it was brought up by the other person and I had to try to outright evade the question. Not that it fooled Jazz one bit when it came to some things but hey, a guy can try right? Either way it was such a relief to see that she didn't look sleep deprived anymore -which made one of us- and I was really happy to see her. At the same time though I dreaded asking for an update on how things were going because I knew that the guilt gnawing away at my stomach was only going to get worse if I heard that ghost attacks were at an all time high now that I wasn't there to deal with it, or that mom and dad were going to get a divorce over what happened to me.

When she told me that things were going as well as expected now that almost every major building had a ghost shield it made me feel a little better, at least until she told me about how mom and dad were skirting around the Red Huntress, aka Val, who has been making it her personal mission to tear apart every ghost she meets and our parents didn't want Jazz to think it was them doing it. Overall, while they hadn't teamed up like I was hoping they might, from what Jazz was saying fewer people have been hurt since they started helping fight off the ghosts still wandering around outside of the anti-ghost shields.

But, seeing as Jazz was a bad liar too, I could tell she was nervous about something so I asked her, "Jazz, is everything ok? You look nervous. And..." leaning to catch a glimpse behind her even though she was trying to block my view I saw piles of clothes folded neatly on the edge of her bed at the hotel so something was up, I wasn't a total idiot. "Are you expecting someone? Or, wait, oh my God Jazz did you seriously invite a boy over to your hotel room?! Gross!"

"Danny you dork, what kind of girl do you think I am? Of course not! I'm just, uh, repacking my things that's all!" she laughed nervously.

"Jazz..." I frowned, clearly annoyed by the fact that she was hiding something from me too. "I was just kidding, I don't actually think you're like that, but come on! What else am I supposed to think when your clothes are laying all over the bed? You can tell me the truth you know. Did you find somewhere else to stay? Like with one of your friends from school? Believe me, we both know that living a life of luxury starts to lose its appeal when there isn't anyone to share it with. Vlad's living proof of that. What I don't get is why you're being all secretive about it." I smiled sadly, "Look, I'm doing alright for the most part and I just want you to be happy Jazz. So if you're going somewhere else to be around your friends again I'm ok with that, in fact I want at least one of us to be able to live a normal life. To be honest I've been really worried about you too since Vlad wouldn't let me talk to anyone from back home until now. I really miss you, a lot, you know that right? I know it's been a long time but I haven't...forgotten about everyone. How could I ever forget the people that matter most to me? That's why you don't have to hide something like that from me, I can handle it."

"Oh Danny..." Jazz began when there was a knock on the door and we both jerked in surprise. Panicking about being seen by someone, I went to leave the chat when she rushed to see who it was then yelled back, "Wait, don't go anywhere Danny! There's someone here that wants to talk to you."

Realizing too late who she meant, I almost left anyway when Jazz opened the door for them and I froze. It was Sam and Tucker. And seeing them for the first time made me feel scared and excited and angry all at the same time, but the moment I saw the cast on Tucker's left arm those feelings vanished in an instant and once I regained the use of my voice I asked in a rush, "Tucker, what the heck happened to your arm? Are you ok?"

Closing the door behind them Tucker pulled up a chair while Sam flopped onto the bed and smiled awkwardly, "Yeah, it's a funny story actually but before that...you're uh...looking good."

Shifting nervously, I rubbed the back of my neck and replied, "Thanks, but trust me things are far from perfect here either."

"Could have fooled me..." Sam grumbled in the background.

"Sam!" Jazz snapped, glaring at Sam harshly after settling back down in her chair at the table, where her laptop was since the bed was mostly covered with piles of clothes. "We talked about this, and you agreed to come talk to him remember? He's been waiting just as long as you have to talk again so don't act all butt-hurt! Just...listen to what he has to say. Danny?"

Still reeling from the fact that I was seeing my best friends for the first time in months, I felt my chest constrict and my eyes start to water. They had no idea how badly I wanted to reach through the screen and hug them and never let go, so seeing them both at once really shook me more then I cared to admit. Did Vlad know about this? Or did Jazz pull the wool over his eyes? How long as she been planning this? And if I said I was worried about Vlad finding out, would they think I was scared of him? Of him finding out we were doing this behind his back? Either way, I wasn't...I wasn't ready to see them! I mean it made me feel better knowing they were doing alright, but at the same time it was-!

"Dude, are you ok? You look kinda pale." Tucker asked in a worried tone after noticing how tense I was all of a sudden.

Glancing over at Sam unsurely, her violet eyes looking just as conflicted as mine when they locked for a split second, I forced myself to look away and while covering my mouth with my fist I blurted out, "I just...wasn't expecting to see you guys that's all. I've missed you so much! Seriously, it's been so weird not seeing you every day and going to school and everything. I've wanted to tell you I don't hate you or anything because of all those things you said for so long since I know it was a lot to swallow. I wanted to tell you that I...I really didn't want to leave, but I can't handle this on my own. Because when Dan became a part of all this, I was this close to losing it and...I didn't want to risk hurting anyone while my powers were on the fritz so I had to leave to keep you safe! I had to! I'm sure mom and dad still hate me but I was afraid you'd start hating me too for relying on Vlad's help. This isn't just about me anymore though, it's about stopping whatever Dan's planning, and I can't let Vlad find out the truth about him, about me. And I can't face Dan again when I'm so messed up in the head from my parents chasing me off and almost dying for good this time! I'm sorry..."

Finally dropping her tough girl act Sam got off the bed and said tearfully, "Don't say that! Of course we don't hate you! W-we've missed you too Danny. And I'm sorry, I know I shouldn't be acting like this, but it's been so hard trying to handle things like ghost hunting without you! Last week Tucker sprained his wrist while we were trying to stop Technus since Val was too busy fighting some other ghost and-"

"I'm fine though so don't panic!" Tucker chimed in before I could get too worked up, and he held up his cast with his usual smug grin and boasted, "I consider this a battle wound because in the end we sure taught Technus a thing or two! I just landed wrong when his latest giant robot construct fell apart when we short circuited him by knocking over a powerline, which was Sam's idea by the way, since he was actually smart enough to cover his outlet for once so I couldn't hack into his system."

I sighed in relief hearing that, but I still felt like crap knowing he got hurt by one of my enemies when I should have been there to prevent it. Jazz must've noticed the pained look on my face because she gently suggested I catch them up to speed while she finished _'repacking'_ and she promised to tell me the real reason why once Tucker and Sam went home. I reluctantly agreed and since I had it rehersed I told them the same thing I told Jazz. Once I was finished with my story they seemed just as worried by the fact that my ghost core nearly killed me as Jazz was, and even they had to admit it was a good thing Vlad was there, which I hoped would eventually help them see that once you got to know him he wasn't so bad...

I even explained about Vlad losing his parents before he met mine, which is part of the reason he hated my dad so much for leaving him alone in the hospital all those years. Vlad didn't have any family left to look after him and none of his doctors really understood what was happening to him or knew how to treat his odd symptoms effectively, no one did. That is of course, except for my parents who never came forward with the truth about it being their fault and that they already knew what caused his awful skin condition. But now that Vlad wanted to prove himself to me, he was slowly starting to let go of his grudge against my dad. It didn't really matter to him as much anymore as long as my dad couldn't hurt me again.

Just to prove that I was better now, at one point I pulled down the collar of my shirt to show them the scar on my shoulder from the bullet wound to let them know I was all healed up. I also told them how according to Vlad I was finally hitting my growth spurt which is why working out has been helping me build up a lot of muscle in a short amount of time. Tucker even made a playful jab at my clothes looking too small for me because maybe Vlad was lying and I was just getting fat and lazy from not fighting ghosts all the time. Well either way, I still wanted to hold onto them as long as possible...for sentimental reasons.

Once things finally calmed down a bit I gave them a virtual tour of my room like I did with Jazz, but Sam didn't seem nearly as impressed as Tucker who gushed over all the cool little gadgets like the new telescope and eagerly asked what model it was. Unsurprisingly, Sam still thought it was creepy that Vlad went to such lengths to make me feel at home by going out of his way to specifically remodel a room for me that was all space-themed. I tried to explain to her that though that Vlad wasn't plotting to keep me there forever, he's been a lot more honest about working on helping me with all of this which sadly brought us to the subject of Dan again...

After that I had no choice but to admit to them and to my sister that Dan was definitely up to something and had taken advantage of what happened to me to freak me out, but Vlad was taking measures against him and hadn't figured out he was my future self yet so we were safe. What I didn't tell them was that I think Dan might still be messing with me, but I can't tell since the nightmares haven't really been so much about him it was about losing everyone which is why I really needed to tell them once and for all that I wasn't mad anymore. They were still my best friends and even though I had my reservations about Vlad too I believed in him, he wasn't just giving me lip service. I've seen him change so much for the better so all I could do was ask them to trust me, that's all that mattered.

"If you say so Danny..." Sam began skeptically but then asked the one question on all of our minds that I was dreading the most. "But if its true, that Vlad's trying to figure out a way to bring things back to normal with your parents...when are you coming home Danny? In a month? In six? A year from now? And how do you know Vlad won't just...let this drag on forever so you forget about coming back at all? Especially if it's so much easier for you there? I mean I want you to be happy, but we need you too. You can't stay there forever and hide from who you really are. You're Danny Phantom! Amity Park hasn't forgotten about you just yet, everyone wants you back and so do we! Danny, we need you to come back! Please...as much as it hurts me to say, it's destroying Val that you supposedly got abducted by the ghost she was trying to protect you from. Sometimes she looks as bad as you did after a long night fighting ghosts non-stop but she's actively LOOKING for something to take her frustration out on. Even I'm worried about her. Sure your parents are helping keep the ghosts at bay too but they're not you, no one in this town is as good a ghost hunter as you, or a better friend. And I'm sorry I acted like such a jerk before. I never should have said those things when I had no idea what you were going through and thought this was just another misunderstanding with your parents about your ghost half, I never could have imagined that Dan had something to do with any of this or that you've been having nightmares about him all this time. Why didn't you ever tell us?"

"Yeah, I mean we met the guy too in that crappy alternate future and we know he's bad news! Even I have nightmares about him sometimes! You could have told us dude, but then again I can kinda understand why you wouldn't want to..." Tucker smiled warmly at me, but I was just trying to process everything Sam just said and didn't know how to respond.

When...was I going to be allowed to go back home? Was it still even possible? If Vlad gave my parents the good news and told them he finally _'found me,'_ would they forget all about trying to waste my ghost half and stop trying to figure out what really happened and why Danny Phantom would try to kidnap me? Or would they try to make sure I wasn't still being overshadowed or something no matter what Vlad told them about me being safe and _'ghost free?'_ And did they REALLY need me back in Amity Park, or was Sam just saying that? From what they've told me about the past two months I've been gone, between them, my parents, and Valerie, it looks like they had most of the serious ghost threats under control now. There was still so much I needed to do here, and frankly, I was scared of the idea of going home or anywhere near them until I found out what Dan was plotting.

Either way I had to see Clockwork and get some answers, and I had to make sure Vlad wouldn't find out about it. Still, deep down I wanted to go home so badly it hurt. But at the same time, despite worrying about them and about my family and the town I finally felt like I had some control of my life, and it wasn't constantly in danger thanks to Vlad. If I went back now, would anything really change? Or would I get sucked back into giving up on all my dreams just to keep everyone else safe? Would it be selfish not to fight ghosts even when I started to notice them constantly again? And what about Vlad? Would he feel betrayed or hurt by me wanting to go home even after he's done so much for me and saved my life so many times? The answer is yes, he probably would. But I didn't want to lose him either or see him go back to being a pain in the backside, especially when I knew more about his tragic past and felt I owed it to him too to stay friends even if he didn't get along with anyone else since I genuinely enjoyed spending time with him now and could openly say he meant a lot to me.

I didn't have an answer, but I tried to give her one anyway and told them just as Jazz finished up and rejoined the conversation, "Sam...Tucker, the truth is I still don't know what's going to happen to me or how much longer I'm going to be gone, but, I know one thing. I believe Vlad will do the right thing this time and there's something I have to take care of before I even think about coming home. And I don't want to put you in danger again like the last time I fought my evil future self. Dan is my problem, and in a lot of ways he's Vlad's problem too, and the best way you guys can help me right now is to stay safe and see if you can keep things under control there for a little longer. I'm not asking you to put yourselves at risk to fight ghosts like I used to or anything when there's plenty of help to go around who can handle it better, but...until I sort this all out I need to see this through to the end. So what I'm saying is yeah, I do want to come home eventually but this is something I have to do. I have to for my sake and yours, Vlad's too because I refuse to see him go back to the way he was because of me! He doesn't deserve to be alone anymore. And I don't want to fight him anymore. I finally have someone around that can help me and I can't miss out on learning more about my ghost powers and what I can do from the only other person like me in the world! Especially if learning from him will help me get an edge over Dan! I promise I'll be careful, but I need this. Guys, you have no idea how much I've longed for this ever since I found out Vlad was a half-ghost like me so just...trust me ok? Anyways I uh...I gotta go for now though so Jazz, you'll have to tell me what's going on on your end next time. I'll talk to you guys again soon! Bye!"

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Snapping the laptop shut before I completely lost it when I started getting stressed out about what Sam said, I leaned back on my pillows and hugged my knees, feeling a crushing weight on my chest because I felt so lost and confused. Obviously I still wanted to go home, but not if it meant losing what I had here with Vlad now or facing my parents again before I was ready. Besides, at least I had a life here where I didn't have to hide who I was anymore! Sure it wasn't perfect and my sister and my friends weren't here with me, but I felt safer here with Vlad then I have at home since I was little, even before becoming half ghost.

They were doing ok without me for now, weren't they? I mean sure I felt better now that I've patched things up with Sam and Tucker, but I knew Sam was going to say something like that the moment I saw her, I just knew it! It had taken every fiber of my being not to shout and deny all of it saying they didn't need Danny Phantom anymore because honestly, I don't want to fight ghosts by myself anymore if there were other people that could do it too! At first, I thought having my powers meant that it was my job to keep everyone safe, but as time went on, I felt like I lost sight of who I was as Danny Fenton somewhere along the way. And sometimes I wondered which part of me my friends cared more about. Their best friend since childhood? Or their new cool super powered one? But then again, it was true that I DID need to figure out what was happening to me and how Dan was messing with me before I could show my face there again either way, otherwise...I might-

There was a knock on the door and before I could calm my nerves Vlad opened it and stepped inside, his smile fading when he noticed the steady flow of tears trailing down my cheeks. Oh great, just what I needed! Someone else I had to answer to. But instead of coddling me or asking what was wrong, Vlad took one look at my laptop laying on the bed then back at my face before calmly retreating and telling me he'd come back later once I'd calmed down. I was shocked, and before I knew what I was doing I rushed to my feet and went after him, grabbed his wrist from behind, and then I leaned my head against the back of his suit as if silently asking for his support.

I didn't want to be alone right now, but at the same time I didn't want to talk anymore. I just...wanted someone here with me to make things seem like they were going to get better and that everything was ok. Something solid, something real that wasn't going to disappear on me. Thankfully Vlad seemed to understand that and slowly phased out of my grip before taking me firmly but protectively by the shoulder and gently guiding me down the hall to his room and settling down beside me on his expensive leather sofa in front of a dimly glowing fireplace.

Vlad didn't say a word and just sat with me while my chest throbbed painfully and everything around me was blurry because of the constant flow of tears. And when they threatened to get worse whenever I started thinking about the shock of seeing my friends again out of the blue and not knowing if I should be mad at Jazz for inviting them over or glad about it, he'd squeeze my shoulder til I calmed down a little. Clearly Vlad knew my talk with Jazz didn't go as well as planned but he didn't ask what happened, not yet anyway, he just...held me close. Vlad made it clear he wasn't going anywhere. And I honestly wasn't sure if it was the warmth of his hand on my shoulder, or his presence beside me, that made me feel like things were going to be ok and that I wasn't as alone as I felt.


	54. It's The Thought That Counts

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (10/17/2018):** Thanks again _"keishinaruka"_ for your long review, it made me smile so much and I read it several times, so I think the unnamed entity was very pleased! _(though it was most likely Dan or Vlad but shh, don't tell them I'm on to them! lolz)_ Anyways, I have exciting news for all of you readers! Rejoice! Because this chapter should fulfill many of your badger cereal needs with some much needed fluff before we ramp up the excitement within the next few chapters. I'd hint at what's in store more but then a certain entity might get upset with me and tell me it's not the right time. Still, my beta reader and I are very happy with the plan we came up with for the next few chapters since its all important to the story leading up to Dan's eventual grand entrance! Hope you'll stick around til then and continue to reading the story! And here, enjoy the latest chapter!

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Chapter 53: It's The Thought That Counts

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Vlad's POV

Before I went to check on Daniel I had just finished closing an important business deal and then set about contacting one of my sources in the Ghost Zone about a possible lead concerning Dan. However I had my doubts since the _'black and white blur'_ Skulker saw was more then likely just Danielle hiding out in the Ghost Zone after finding a way there to escape from me. Luckily for Danielle though, she wasn't my target. So even if I did find out where the little wretch was hiding I had bigger things to worry about and could care less about her.

Still, even a vague clue was better than nothing I suppose because I was growing rather irritated by the lack of any solid proof of Dan's existence even though I KNEW now that there was a very real entity tormenting Daniel. Whether it was by the mere memory of him or by actively using whatever link they had to make the boy hear things in the dark and see his loved ones perish in his dreams. That is why I thought contacting his sister would help because from what I've heard, things were starting to look up for her and his friends despite the constant presence of ghosts in Amity Park again. Especially since the other ghost hunters still living there, such as his parents and Valerie Grey who could put up a fight against these ghosts too, had no choice but to do so now. And this is something that in my professional opinion is something his parents at the very least should have been doing all along, taking responsibility for unleashing ghosts onto their town in the first place and fighting them instead of attacking HIM when Daniel's been doing their job for them for the past year in secret all by himself while disguised as Danny Phantom. They should have realized much sooner then this that the ghosts Danny Phantom fought regularly were the ones they should have been attacking, they were the only ghosts who posed any REAL threat to human lives, not my little badger. But I digress.

Things were progressing nicely so far and my plan to slowly release _'new'_ advancements in the ghost shields was working splendidly. With Casper High now protected, knowing that his fellow students, his sister, and his friends were safe now and could focus on their studies again instead of constantly being attacked by the ghost of a former lunch lady, or some other specter hoping to gain something from targeting this part of Danny Phantom's former _'territory,'_ or to entertain themselves by tormenting and terrorizing the students, helped him relax a little more and not feel the need to rush back to play hero again. I even threw in a sound filter to protect the teens against Ember's hypnotic music, which obviously vexed Skulker's little girlfriend to no end but I could care less since it made Daniel feel better about this business arrangement I had with the town and about keeping Axion Labs.

I must admit though that I'm growing more then a little concerned by the fact that Daniel still has way too much excess ecto-energy built up in his system now that he has completely healed, which was another reason why he's feeling so restless lately and he'll need to increase his daily regiment before too long. In fact it was so apparent that this was still a problem we needed to address because just the other day his ice powers started to go out of control for the first time in awhile by bleeding through to his hands. And since Daniel was so tired from not getting a full nights sleep after being woken in the middle of the night by another nightmare, it looks like he wasn't focusing his cold energy properly to just keep himself cool as usual, and as a result he flash froze the weights and they shattered after slipping from his grasp. After that I told Daniel to go rest in his room for the remainder of the day to catch up on his sleep once we channeled the rest of his cold energy out into the open air outside, though he did so reluctantly.

I could always tell when he had one of his nightmares now since Daniel would try very hard to make it seem like nothing was wrong and he was just more determined to get through his weight training session faster so he could move on to the next set, but I could tell he was actually only trying to overexert himself so that he'd be too tired to dream just like before. I warned him that this was hazardous to his health and I always had to cut our work out session short whenever that happened. Once, when he flat out refused to stop, I threatened to short out his powers so he couldn't go flying that night and Daniel wasn't happy about it at all. To prove my point, I actually brought the device to prove I was serious, and I hated seeing him glare at me so bitterly then suddenly start treating me almost like I was the villain again before storming off.

Deep down I knew Daniel understood that I was just worried about him and I had to make sure he was handling his problems in a healthy manner and wasn't trying to ignore or run away from his problems like a coward. Because we both know he's hardly a coward; I simply had to keep reminding him of that. I'm just glad that Daniel eventually came to find me and apologized for his behavior, claiming he didn't know what got into him, and things settled down not too long after that at least for awhile.

What's more, even if I wasn't his legal guardian, I was still the parental figure in his life now in place of his sister and I couldn't be afraid to punish him when he acted out of turn since Daniel was still living under my roof and I put these rules in place to protect him and keep him healthy both physically and mentally, which meant that I was within my rights to do so for his own good. I wanted him to have his freedom as much as possible during his stay with me, but not if it meant Daniel was going to hurt himself by acting so foolish and reckless. And that's why I've been putting in more effort as well into finding this Dan myself short of flying off into the Ghost Zone under the guise of a business trip and risking leaving Daniel alone for a few days just to continue the search myself since my usual contacts were all but useless at present except for the Fright Knight and Skulker, the latter of which I have been most in contact with since the Fright Knight did not like to be disturbed unless I had a concrete order ready for him to fulfill.

Either way, once Daniel spoke with his sister I was hoping it would cheer him up enough to ease in the subject of continuing his schooling through a personal tutor. So when I knocked on Daniel's door I was only expecting him to look a little sad but relieved after talking to his sister. However, when I saw him looking almost distraught instead I was taken aback. Clearly something had gone terribly wrong or she said something that deeply upset him...

I didn't like the look Daniel gave me either when I walked in. It was like that of a cornered animal that was scared but also liable to lash out at anyone who came too close, frankly it was not unlike he'd been acting near the beginning after I saved his life. It took me a moment to recompose myself and think about this carefully. Daniel was obviously very upset about something and it didn't look as though he was in any mood to talk, least of all to me, so this time I thought it best to give him time to calm down before I broached the subject of their conversation just now.

It was painful, leaving him in such a state, however I was gradually learning when it was best to leave the boy be to sort things out for himself and not allow Daniel to rely on me too much. For as much as I wanted to keep him safe and happy of course, I knew it was dangerous to let him become overly dependent on me when he still had his demons to face as much as I did. Daniel was stronger than this. He knew it too, and Daniel needed to know above all else that he could still push through these feelings without my help. He would have to if he was ever going to fully heal from the emotional scars that I can't do anything about even if I wanted to, which I do, more than anything. All I want is for him to feel like himself again, to BE himself again, which was why I was looking for a way to destroy the only thing standing in the way of our happiness...and his recovery.

I was surprised however when Daniel suddenly came rushing out of his room and grabbed me by the wrist to stop me, his head resting on my back though he didn't utter a single word. I could hear him trying to control his breathing like I taught him to with little success, as it was still shaky and uneven. That's when I knew exactly what he needed right now, which was to not be alone. And so I re-positioned myself and then calmly guided Daniel to my room instead of back to his own to remove him from the problem which was looking at his laptop at the moment.

I eased him onto the leather sofa at the front of my master bedroom then sat down beside Daniel, my arm wrapped securely around his shaking shoulders as he struggled to regain control of his emotions. And when his strength would almost fail him and Daniel was about to begin cry harder and shed another wave of fresh tears, I would give his shoulder a reassuring squeeze and continued to just sit with him while he fought his way through his most recent emotional episode.

What I didn't understand was what on earth Jasmine could have possibly said to make him THIS upset. The last time I spoke with Daniel about his sister to let him know how she was doing, Daniel confessed that he was hoping she was acting more like herself again too and not worrying about him constantly or stressing out about what their parents were up to so she could finish school. Aside from that though Daniel had more or less come to terms about the fact that while his parents still anxiously searching for him they were at least helping to fight ghosts now instead of hurting them to get information. We both knew they wouldn't find any leads without my help, but if nothing else at least they were finally doing the town some good for a change more frequently rather then when it was already in the middle of a crisis...

Not being able to talk to Jasmine either seems to have been bothering him a lot more than I realized as well, but I didn't have any siblings so it was harder for me to grasp the concept of even what a normal bond with one was like. As such I still had no clue how deep their bond was aside from what I've guessed or heard from either of them directly since Jasmine has more or less been forced to play the part of mother hen in place of their parents when he was too little to take care of himself. And she kept on fussing over him long after Daniel had reached adolescence and started acting more rebellious, self-sufficient, and stubborn like most boys his age.

But a boy his age shouldn't feel afraid of his parents dissecting him; he shouldn't have to fear some monster from the future; he shouldn't have to feel less then human because of a freak accident where he got a little too curious about one of his parents dangerous inventions and nearly got himself killed; and most of all, a boy his age shouldn't feel like he had no one to turn to anymore but the man who he once saw as nothing but an enemy. All that aside, I'm glad Daniel took the initiative to come to me when he felt overwhelmed by whatever happened between him and his sister. He might see it as a sign of weakness, but I for one saw it as progress because it takes a certain amount of courage to accept and look for comfort when you need it. Believe me, there were times when even I thought about letting go of my hatred of Jack some days at the hospital when the pain was too much and ask for him and Maddie to come visit me but as you can see, I never did such a thing...

And maybe I should have.

Daniel still seemed rather shaken despite my efforts to silently comfort him so I decided to bring him a hot drink. Not wanting to leave his side though I sent a duplicate to the kitchen to put on some hot water and since this hardly seemed like the time for tea I was sure I had some hot chocolate somewhere which would do nicely. As it happens, I even had some marshmallows usually reserved for fruit salads and such so I had them add it to the top of Daniel's drink while I decided to only add some hazelnut creamer to mine.

Once our drinks were ready my duplicate brought them to us and I had it set Daniel's mug directly in front of him, but he didn't react, not even when I created the duplicate in the first place and forgot to suppress its ghost signature. So either Daniel was too upset to notice or he had grown used to my presence as both a human and a ghost enough to not react explosively like he did before, which I was hoping was the case. It was probably the smell of chocolate that eventually got his attention. That's when Daniel finally looked up and blinked the tears obscuring his vision away before reaching for it, smiling faintly in gratitude, and then held the mug between his hands. Daniel could have cooled it enough to drink with his ice powers of course, but it would seem the warmth alone was comforting enough for now...

A few minutes passed before he finally took a small sip, though most of the marshmallows had melted away at that point. I let him finish his first before reaching for mine and doing the opposite, reheating it with my electrical powers, which like an microwave oven I was using to make the water molecules vibrate at such a high speed that the friction created heat. As I told him before, our cores made us almost immune to the heat or the cold depending on the type so I for one enjoyed it almost scalding hot. Still, I was mostly just buying Daniel a little more time before I asked him what happened so Daniel could recompose himself. He seemed much calmer now and his breathing had evened out after finishing his drink so I decided to go ahead and turn towards him after gently setting my empty mug down beside his so it would be easier for us to talk.

"Feeling any better now little badger?" I asked warmly, my voice calm and not overly concerned.

Daniel nodded, inhaled deeply, and then sighed, "Yeah, a little...thanks Vlad."

"You're welcome my boy," I replied, briefly rising from my seat just long enough to grab a box of tissues from the bathroom and set it on the coffee table for him.

After taking a few to blow his nose with, Daniel surprised me by instead of getting up to throw them away he simply burnt them with his raw ecto-energy so there was nothing left to throw away once he finished. I wasn't surprised so much by him using his ghost power that way, it was more that Daniel felt comfortable enough to do it without thinking in front of me. Because while I told him he was free to use his powers around the castle for mundane things besides flying, Daniel normally refrained from doing so reflexively and only used them openly outside, which made some sense because he was so accustomed to hiding his powers from everyone but his sister and his friends. That's why it was unexpected to say the least, but I still found it fascinating that Daniel had chosen now of all times to use his ghost powers in such a way without his usual reservations.

Returning to the matter at hand though, I asked him calmly, "So Daniel, would you mind telling me what happened? What did your sister say to you that has you so upset? I thought you were looking forward to talking with her and what Jasmine told me she wanted to tell you herself shouldn't have come as that much of a shock. In fact I thought you'd see it as a good sign that your parents are finally putting your sister's needs before their own again, like a parent should."

Shaking his head, Daniel explained, "I think I already know what Jazz was going to tell me since I noticed her repacking when we opened the video chat, and you're right, that's not why I'm upset." Heaving a heavy sigh, Daniel leaned his head back and rested an arm over his forehead, as if contemplating whether or not he should tell me but after a look of sad resolve flashed in his eyes he confessed, "I saw Sam and Tucker. She...invited them over to talk without telling me and I didn't know what to do or what to say to them after what happened last time. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad I finally got to see them again since I've been worried about them too, but I wish Jazz would have warned me first. Even if it was to help me patch things up with them, Jazz should have told me what she was planning so I could have handled it better. From the beginning, you knew that I'd react like this which is why you were so against me talking to them, I think I...understand why now. Turns out you were right, I still wasn't ready to see them. And I know Jazz was only trying to help me by arranging this while she had the chance. Jazz always thinks she knows what's best for me too and must have decided to take matters into her own hands as usual when it comes to my personal life, no surprise there. So anyways, after I got over the shock of seeing them for the first time in months we talked about some stuff and at first I was glad to see them. I felt so relieved to finally have the chance to tell them I'm not mad about what happened or hate them for acting like jerks, but then..." blinking tears out of his blue eyes again, Daniel stared blankly up at the roof and with a mixture of pain in his voice and a feeling of exasperation he told me, "...I've...been afraid of this ever since I got my ghost powers, but sometimes I feel like...Sam and Tucker care more about the ghost side of me then the friend they grew up with. I mean, Sam practically begged -or ordered I guess is more accurate- me to come back home because she said they _'need Danny Phantom.'_ But who is it she really needs more Vlad? Danny Fenton, or Phantom? If I didn't have these powers, would Sam and Tucker still want me to come home so badly? I don't even know anymore. They still don't understand that my parents...they almost killed me for real this time and chased me out of my own home! You can't expect anyone to just...get over something like that so easily, no matter how hard they try because believe me, I've tried. I've tried so hard! And besides, it sounds like my parents and Val have been keeping most of the ghost problems under control so far and Sam and Tucker told me that they were helping out with it too until he hurt his arm after a fight with Technus, so I really don't think they need me back right away. At least Tucker seems to understand that I need more time to deal with my...other problem once I explained the situation with Dan better and Tucker was trying to be more supportive about my decision to figure out what he's up to this time before I risk putting everyone in danger of being targeted by him again because Dan wants to get to me. But Sam, she still doesn't trust you at all. She thinks that you're going to take your sweet time figuring out a way to help me with my parents and you're going to try to convince me that they've already given up on me so I should just stay here with you for good since I don't belong there anymore or something like that. It's not like you haven't already admitted that you might feel tempted to do that, but I know you better then they do, especially now, and I want to believe that you won't go back on your word. Because I don't...I don't want to lose what we have now once we finally sort things out with my parents and stop Dan because...when you're not being a fruitloop it turns out I actually LIKE hanging out with you Vlad. They don't have a clue just how badly I've always wanted someone around who understands what I'm going through, someone that can actually help me learn more about my powers and make me feel like I'm more to them then just some super powered freak and tell me I don't have to feel ashamed of what I am! It means so much to me to finally have someone besides my sister around who fully accepts me for who I am again and not have to doubt that they enjoy having me around. At least you care about what _I_ want to do with my powers, and you're probably one of the few people who have ever even bothered to ask me what I want to grow up to be and do with my future for ONCE in my life! And honestly, sometimes I feel like none of this is real and like...I don't even know who I am anymore! Without ghost fighting, what am I? What's the point of having these powers if I'm never going to use them again? Am I just some freaky little boy with freaky little powers like Spectra once told me? And even when or if you do smooth things out with my parents, do I still HAVE to go back to being Danny Phantom right away, and fight ghosts all the time again? Or can I justify letting my parents do their PROFESSIONAL job for once and fight them sometimes instead of me for a change so I can finally have a life again? And is it so bad that I...want you to stay a part of it? Is it bad that I actually like having you around now because it makes me feel...like I'm not alone anymore? That I can finally ask for help and not feel like I'm drowning in these stupid tears I've held back for so long that sometimes I feel like they'll never stop, that it'll never stop hurting so much to care about what happens to you along with everyone else when I don't even know what's going to happen to me now?"

"Daniel please, calm down...you're only making yourself more hysterical," I warned in a concerned and slightly alarmed tone when he started hyperventilating and pressed the palms of his hands tightly against his eyelids. "Take a deep breath, and let it out slowly..." I instructed, resting a hand on his shoulder but resisting the urge to pull him into my arms and hug him tightly since Daniel needed to work through this, "...and again...there you go."

After taking a moment to recover, while not removing his hands from his eyes, Daniel muttered weakly, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to unload all of that on you...I just-"

"No no, it's alright. I'm glad you felt comfortable enough to confide in me and you clearly needed someone to talk to. I'm...sorry I haven't been around much lately. I try to keep my schedule free to spend time with you but I also don't want you to feel like I'm smothering you so I let you do as you please. But perhaps it's time to begin doing something more...productive so you don't have all this excess energy after all," that having got his attention, Daniel lowered his hands and looked at me, his gaze guarded but hopeful which encouraged me to make my offer. "I know you've had a rough week, and there will be conditions I expect you to uphold to make sure you don't use this as another excuse to overexert yourself, but I think using your ghost powers again more frequently will help you feel less restless and better prepared to face this Dan once we find out where he's hiding. You've already healed up quite nicely, and you're making strides building up more muscle in your human form as well to balance out your physical strength and your ghost strength, so I see no reason to delay any longer. I've been meaning to ask if you feel up to it anyway and, well, now seems as good a time as any to discuss it. What do you say Daniel?"

"Do you really mean that?" he asked pensively.

Smiling in response, "Would I have brought it up if I didn't?"

Still hesitant, Daniel asked, "Are you sure you're not...mad that Jazz went behind your back and I talked to my friends? I thought you didn't want me to."

"I'm a bit disappointed that she didn't consult with me before arranging this but no, I'm not especially angry. We were going to set something up with those two before too long if things went well with your sister first but I was hoping to be there for it so they wouldn't dare say anything too...unkind again. Because as I told you before, I will NOT stand for any more of their slanderous behavior being directed against you that might make your emotional recovery take even longer, which is part of the problem. They clearly want you back which is a good sign, but that doesn't mean you are ready to go back and if I may be so bold, I'd even go as far as to say that it actually has very little to do with what I'M doing. Even without my involvement in your life now there's a lot that needs to be addressed before anything can be done about the situation with Jack and Maddie, such as disposing of this new threat to your life that we discovered shortly after I rescued you that day. A ghost unlike anything you've ever faced before that's powerful enough to use your own powers against you, and this Dan somehow attacked you directly during a moment of weakness right under my nose! In fact he has done so several times! That's why taking care of him first needs to be our top priority Daniel, the rest will take time and you can't put an exact number on how long that may take us. The incident with your parents was traumatic enough, but there's also this terrible future you witnessed at the hands of this Dan who made you do God knows what that wants you back under his control and to destroy everything you hold dear, which means he doesn't care about territory or power, this is personal and it's all about you. Rest assured I will not let that happen Daniel. I will not let him take you away from us. Once we settle the score with him, we'll worry about the rest. We just have to take the necessary steps and precautions in our own time and not let ANYONE, force our hand. Not when we are the ones who control our fate in the end, not them. Remember that. No matter what anyone tells you, even me, this is your life and you only get to live it once. So it's up to you to make the most of it. That's exactly what I intend to do, regardless of what I've lost during the course of my life. And I will do everything in my power to make sure you are more then capable enough to master your fate as well."


	55. Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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Chapter 54: Beyond The Shadow Of A Doubt

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3rd Person POV

 _There was no doubt in anyone's mind that Skulker was a skilled hunter, the best in fact, or so he told himself, but the prey his employer was after this time proved to be especially elusive. He knew the Ghost Zone as well as anyone possibly could due to the constant shifting and new islands forming throughout where ghosts would fight over any unclaimed territory. But this ghost was clever, they were always moving, constantly, and they never stayed in the same place twice. As a result, just when Skulker would get close enough to lock onto its ghost signature it would vanish, and not even his sensors could track it after that. At first Skulker felt thrilled by the challenge before him but knew Vlad Plasmius did not like to be kept waiting for results and any delays would be deducted from his pay so he focused on this hunt intently, determined to get results soon since he needed the money to repair part of his suit that was acting up and made it hard to lift his right arm..._

 _Besides, the little whelp hadn't been seen in Amity Park in months and Skulker could only assume someone finally trounced him, so he had to find other things to do in is spare time. There was no other reason that Skulker could think of anyway for Danny Phantom to willingly abandon his territory, that is, unless he was chased out or someone had taken him prisoner. It seemed unlikely that a more powerful enemy had defeated him though, otherwise Skulker would have heard about it, every ghost in the Ghost Zone would have. It was more that the ghost boy simply...vanished, like this ghost he was chasing for Plasmius._

 _If Skulker remembered correctly, Plasmius DID say that finding this ghost was imperative to some plan that revolved around Danny Phantom as usual so...was the ghost he was chasing actually the ghost boy himself? Could it be that something was wrong with his sensors or something had corrupted the data Skulker had on Danny Phantom's ghost signature when his suit was damaged when he was wrestling one of his beasts for training in hand to hand combat? That would explain a lot._

 _Either way, even though Skulker only managed to get visual confirmation of this ghost once at a distance, the only details he could make out was a streak of black and white. And considering the fact that most ghosts in this world were more colorful and blended into the rest of their natural environment, that seemed like the most likely explanation. Not to mention if Plasmius was this interested in capturing this ghost then Skulker had no doubt it had SOMETHING to do with the younger halfa..._

 _Well no matter, even if this was about the whelp Skulker had strict orders to bring this ghost back to Plasmius intact so that he could do...whatever it was he planned to do with them. Skulker could only hope it involved some form of torture. At any rate, Skulker had tracked down this mystery ghost at least this far so he was certain he would corner it soon since very few dared to venture so close to the oldest and wildest sectors of the Ghost Zone, except for those who were already ancient themselves or didn't know any better. That's why Skulker wasn't surprised when he spotted the familiar form of the Fright Knight riding across the vast darkness on his winged black mare, Nightmare._

 _Even Skulker had to admit she was a marvelous creature, though he wouldn't dare say anything to the Fright Knight in case he saw it as a threat to his beloved steed knowing that Skulker was a hunter and liked to_ 'collect' _rare and powerful beasts. It didn't take long for the Fright Knight to take notice of the twinge of fear Skulker had just felt, like a shark attracted to the scent of blood, and knowing he was allied with Plasmius as well the Fright Knight decided to see if he had any useful information on his quarry from the other side of the Ghost Zone._

" _Greeting Skulker, what brings you so far from your usual hunting grounds?" he asked with a mixture of mild curiosity but his voice never lost its regal and authoritative edge._

 _Crossing his arms -with slight difficulty since his right arm was still so stiff- Skulker nodded, "I'm tracking down something for Plasmius, you?"_

 _After a moment's pause the Fright Knight mused, "It would seem that I was correct to assume that you were sent here on behest of my Lord, otherwise it seems unlike even you to risk venturing into unknown territory without reason. For while I know you enjoy the thrill of the hunt, you are no fool Skulker. The ghosts that reside here are old and powerful and do not take kindly to trespassers, though the same could be said of most ghosts I suppose, but if you're careful they are unlikely to attack unless provoked or you venture too close. I've traveled this path many times and they know my presence well so even the most feral of ghosts do not dare to hinder me here. And those who do are swiftly met by my blade. Still, perhaps we are after the same target you and I so it would benefit us both to exchange any information we have on our quarry, wouldn't you agree?"_

" _I was just thinking the exact same thing,"Skulker began with a slight smirk but before he could think better of it he snickered, "And why are you calling him your Lord? Just call him Plasmius, it's easier to tell who you're talking about that way since you don't serve Pariah Dark anymore. Not to mention you don't always need to be so formal. Besides, it's not like you owe him any-"_

 _Cutting him off sharply, the Fright Knight replied, "Do not question how I address my Lord, for it is my choice to do so to show him the same respect he bestows upon me. Unlike you he is no mere employer to me, but a Lord worthy of my loyalty whom I would gladly destroy anyone who dares to insult his might. Remember that before you speak ill of him again, Skulker."_

 _Shifting uncomfortably under the Fright Knight's lidless stare, Skulker stammered, "A-alright alright, no need to get so worked up about it! I respect Plasmius just fine and he pays me well which is why I took this job for him in the first place. He seems to be very eager to capture this ghost I'm tracking down and I don't want to keep him waiting much longer, especially not if it has anything to do with the ghost boy."_

 _The Fright Knight nodded and confirmed this by saying, "Yes, my Lord has indeed been growing anxious for results and neither of us have had much luck thus far. What do you know of this ghost?"_

" _Only that it's clever, evasive, and their movements are erratic so just when I get close enough to analyze their ghost signature so I can get a lock on it they keep vanishing! It's almost like trying to catch smoke!" Skulker grumbled._

" _I see. Anything else?" The Fright Knight prodded and Skulker shrugged._

" _Not really, except that from what little I've seen of it this ghost shares the same visual traits as the ghost boy in that it's black and white so I wonder if it has anything to do with him which gives me another reason to want to catch it and find out for myself. What about you? You seem to know your way around the forbidden sector pretty well so have you noticed anything strange?"_

 _He nodded, "I have not seen anything like what you have described but I have noticed a strange presence growing stronger here that I-" Suddenly pausing, the Fright Knight glanced down at his belt and saw the eyes on the device Plasmius gave him glowing red as well as the breastplate on Nightmare's chest so he remounted her without a word and announced, "Forgive me Skulker, we will have to continue our discussion later. My Lord has summoned me and it's urgent. However, I highly suggest you resume the hunt elsewhere, it is too dangerous here even for one as skilled as yourself. There is...a powerful presence here that is unfamiliar to me and yet, it unsettles me which does not happen easily. At any rate I wish you luck Skulker...you will need it."_

 _And with that, the Fright Knight rode off. But something didn't feel right about this, and Skulker would be a fool to ignore his instincts telling him something was amiss. Why would Plasmius contact the Fright Knight instead of him if it really was that urgent? Plasmius told Skulker once before that he didn't like using the Fright Knight unless it was as a last resort given how powerful he was, not to mention Plasmius DID respect him too much to give him the same mundane tasks as Skulker. No, something was wrong about this and Plasmius needed to know about it right away. Especially if there was an impostor mimicking his ghost signature to fool the Fright Knight. Looking down at his radar, even Skulker's sensors picked up something odd just now and it didn't seem like a glitch, not this time..._

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Danny's POV

Vlad made us wait until the next day before he began teaching me more about my ghost powers, so I wasn't sure what to expect until we finally got started. It felt weird at first using my powers again after so long without using them to attack him or some other ghost. But it felt good to use more of this pent up energy inside of me so I didn't hold back once I realized that for the first time since I got my powers, I didn't have to worry about hurting anyone by accident since it was just the two of us here and no one else for miles. Besides, Vlad wanted to start things off simple by just measuring the strength of my attacks anyway so we spent at least an hour or two shooting targets outside in the football field. I was wondering why Vlad was having us train there instead of the simulation room that was attached to the gym, but he explained that that's where we'll be training from now on after this for the most part once we knew what areas I needed help improving on as far as my powers are concerned. And I'll admit that I was feeling surprisingly eager to show off what I could do to get my mind off of what happened yesterday and because a small part of me really wanted to impress him.

It felt so childish to feel so worked up about what happened with my friends but I was surprised how relieved I felt when Vlad offered to let me sleep on the couch in his room last night. I thought about saying no and going back to my room but since I didn't want to have another nightmare and be too tired to train I sheepishly accepted his offer. Vlad didn't make a big deal out of it either which helped a lot and he just grabbed a book after changing into something more comfortable and sat with me til I nodded off. And when I woke up the next morning Vlad left me a pile of clean clothes to change into and a note that asked me to meet him in the football field, he even made a joke about my hazmat suit being the _'suitable attire'_ I should wear this time so I just scoffed at it an rolled my eyes. Still, it did cheer me up a bit knowing that Vlad was trying to make me feel better and knew I've been waiting to do this since I got here.

I was a little annoyed by the fact that Vlad kept his expression carefully blank while recording my energy readings after each attack but I figured he was examining me more closely since he didn't have to use the footage Valerie took of me in secret this time or ask Skulker for his battle tapes. In fact I felt a little nervous revealing so much about my powers to him at first and had to remind myself that Vlad was trying to help me improve, he wasn't going to use this data against me so then I relaxed again and let him give me instructions on which targets to aim for, how much energy to use, to fly as fast as I could, and even to try and combine my new ice energy to my normal ecto-energy.

After awhile though, Vlad left the stadium control box and teleported down to where I was after changing into his ghost form too and told me we were going to start working on a very basic but useful trick that only hybrids like us could pull off that he used all the time during our fights. I wasn't sure exactly what he meant by that, but Vlad made it very clear we weren't going to have a mock battle today which was fine by me since I still had to get used to the idea of using my ghost powers around him for anything other than trying to blast the stupid smug grin off his face like back when we were still enemies. Vlad did point out that I needed to work on my ghost shield more since out of all my powers it seemed like the one I used the least, which is why I kept taking so many unnecessary hits from my enemies. But I argued that usually I was using myself as a living shield since I could take a hit so my friends wouldn't get hurt by accident if an energy bolt bounced off my shield and was sent flying in their direction, which he admitted made some sense, but then Vlad explained that it still belayed a bigger problem that he wanted to address today if possible since this skill shouldn't be all that difficult to master...

"Tell me Daniel, when you first fought me after we met and I revealed what I was during the reunion, do you remember the technique I used just before your parents interrupted our battle?" Vlad asked me, a small knowing smile tugging the edges of his lips which made me feel like scowling at him at first until I thought about his question more seriously.

It didn't take me long to think of one thing he did back then that I've never been able to figure out which was- "Hmm, well I think it was the one where I shot an energy blast at you, but you just absorbed it in one hand and then sent it flying right back at me. I haven't seen you do that again during any of our other fights so I was wondering if...my energy was just too weak and really easy for someone to redirect like that back then. I've always wondered why you never used that trick on me again and never really thought about it til just now. After awhile though I guess I began hoping that my powers were too strong for that trick to work anymore anyway. Or maybe you just couldn't manipulate my energy anymore or...whatever."

"Ah my boy, if only you knew how wrong you were," Vlad chuckled mirthfully so I wouldn't get mad and think he was making fun of me as he summoned some ecto-energy to his hand and watched it flicker thoughtfully. "I explained this concept to you before Daniel, and thankfully you have already figured it out partially on your own, but as half-ghosts we instinctively absorb whatever ambient ecto-energy is left over after a fight that lingers in the air around us even though we can't see it with the naked eye. This is what you were doing back whenever you were seriously injured and your ghost half was trying to replenish the energy you were losing trying to heal your wounds. Similarly, you also absorbed the cold energy around you when your ghost core was overcompensating since it can restore it's energy through normal ecto-energy and cold energy. But while this is an instinct all ghosts possess since they need this energy to retain their ghost forms unlike the two of us who simply revert to our human forms as a fail-safe to reduce the loss of energy, there is a way to consciously absorb the energy directed at you so you can replenish it while fighting. I did this constantly whenever we fought and you never once realized it. The more you attacked me, the more I simply used that left over energy to top off before aiming my own attack towards you if we weren't simply flinging our fists at one another. I was rather disappointed you hadn't figured out how to do this yourself but again, how could you have? That's what I'd like to work on today. And since you've felt me lending you my energy before when your core was acting up, I'd like you to try absorbing the energy in my hand and using only this energy to shoot that target over there. Don't worry, I have plenty of energy to spare so don't worry about draining too much. You don't have the ability to actually reach in and absorb my energy directly, only a few ghosts can do this and it makes them much more dangerous. Therefore you will only be able to absorb the energy I've already summoned and nothing more so don't hesitate. Focus on drawing it inside of yourself as though you were calling forth your own energy to charge an attack. Take a moment to prepare yourself then begin once you're ready."

I blinked, still a bit unnerved by the idea of...absorbing his energy when Dan absorbed his entire ghost half but I tried not to think about it. Still, I couldn't shake off the horrible feeling and asked, "So you're sure I can't hurt you or myself if I absorb your energy and use it instead of mine?"

Vlad nodded, "Absolutely. You see this is often why some ghosts fight each other while they're outside the Ghost Zone even if it's not to gain new territory, they do this because they can't self-generate ecto-energy the way you and I can as hybrids. The only way they can recharge is either by returning to their natural environment, which is full of ambient ecto-energy, or absorbing it from whatever is left over from the attacks their foes unleashed. And in your case, their target would be you since you were the only ghost besides the ones from their world with enough energy to spare that you either didn't need to reabsorb unless you were fatigued or injured or you just never realized you COULD consciously reabsorb that energy to recharge. And trust me, learning how to do this now will make things much easier for you by giving you another way to re-energize yourself then to simply go to sleep or eat something since recharging the energy your human half uses only effects your other half so much and vice versa. This is also another reason why we started increasing the strength of your human half because that in turn will make your ghost half stronger and balance out your overall endurance and energy reserves so you won't tire out as easily."

Swallowing a bit hard, I nodded, reminding myself that Vlad knew what he was talking about more then I did and I stared at his electric pink energy just sitting in his hand lazily but I could feel the power behind even the little he was offering me and it was kind of unsettling. Like he said, this energy was raw and since Vlad wasn't using it for anything specific at the moment I could feel that slight urge he mentioned to absorb it. After awhile though I had to close my eyes and just focus on drawing energy in from the attacks I unleashed earlier and hope it'd be enough instead of using his. But it wasn't. Even though I felt a little more energized by doing that like he said I would be I knew it wouldn't be enough to form a strong enough attack to hit the target he wanted me to hit, it would have fizzled out long before then...

Sensing my hesitation Vlad asked, "Daniel, I know you can do this so why are you hesitating? I told you, this won't hurt-"

Opening my eyes and huffing loudly I frowned, "I know, it just...reminds me of what Dan did to you in that alternate future when he stole your ghost powers and I don't like what I'm feeling that's all. I don't like feeling like I'm craving this power, it doesn't feel right to do it on purpose either when I'm not hurt too. Just, give me another minute or...you can use normal ecto-energy too right? The green kind? Maybe I'd feel better if it didn't feel so much like...your core energy I guess?"

With a sigh Vlad reluctantly did as I asked and recalled his electrical energy to summon some normal green, raw ecto-energy into his hand but added, "I'll do it this time just so you get an idea of how this works but next time I expect you to do it regardless of the type of energy I use. If we were fighting right now I'd expect you to react instantaneously and absorb my attack so you wouldn't waste as much of your own energy like you would if you were fighting off a real enemy who wouldn't be nearly as patient or forgiving, do I make myself clear?"

Relaxing a bit, I nodded, "It's fine, I get it fruitloop. Don't be a pansy and just do it right? But this is still really weird for me so don't be surprised if I end up using my own energy anyway by accident."

I was right about it being hard just using his energy even once I did manage to absorb it since my gut instinct was to reject it because it felt so alien and my own energy seemed to take its place if I held onto it too long to charge an attack. So it was taking forever to only use Vlad's energy instead of my own or a mixture of the two and I was getting really frustrated about it when Vlad's phone suddenly vibrated and he stepped away from me, telling me to take a short break in the meantime which I for one was happy to do. I felt like I wasn't making any progress and could tell Vlad was trying his best to encourage me but he could tell that the part I told him about Dan was seriously making me hold back or not absorb his energy properly so it was making this part of the lesson a lot harder then it needed to be. Believe me, I hated it a lot more then he did that Dan still had that much of an effect on me...

After what seemed like only seconds of sitting down on the nearest bench, Vlad walked over to me, his expression hard which surprised me until he explained, "Daniel, I'm afraid I just received a very urgent call from an employee of mine with a problem that I need to take care of immediately. If it's not too much to ask I'd like you to keep practicing reabsorbing any excess energy left after shooting as many targets as you can. This shouldn't take long but it can't be ignored. Will you be alright on your own for about an hour or so? If it takes any longer I'll call you. Did you bring the phone I gave you before with you?"

I shook my head, "No I left it in my room. Do you want me to go get it and come back here?"

"If you wouldn't mind Daniel," Vlad nodded, patting me on the shoulder and mustering a small smile despite his grim expression returning a moment later, "Also, don't worry too much about getting this technique mastered right away, it took me years and you're already doing better then I did when I was first learning how to consciously absorb energy so be proud of that. The rest will come in time. Now I have to go but I'll be back as soon as possible. Ta!"

And with that Vlad didn't even bother walking back to the castle and abruptly teleported there right on the spot. _Dang, whatever happened has to be serious if he needs to rush back that fast. Guess I'll have to fly back though to grab the phone though, maybe I'll grab a water bottle while I'm at it,_ I thought with a shrug, not realizing that things were about to change big time...

For both of us.


	56. Did I Catch You At A Bad Time?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (11/02/2018):** Tehehehe, it's really brief but I gave a little nod to an artist I follow on tumblr called _"Earthphantom"_ that has a head-cannon with these adorable little green blob ghosts I adore. Also my apologies for the delay, I've been sick and we had some family drama. But, to celebrate receiving over 100+ reviews here is an angst-filled extra long chapter for you with something you've all been waiting for! Wanna know what it is? Then read this chapter and find out!

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Chapter 55: Did I Catch You At A Bad Time?

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Danny's POV

You'd think it wouldn't take that long to find a stupid cell phone, but since I wasn't exactly allowed to talk to anyone besides my sister, I almost forgot Vlad even gave me one. That's why it took me about twenty minutes or so to even find the darn thing! And can you blame me? This room was huge, and even though I'm used to it now sometimes I forget just how much bigger it is compared to my old- I mean, my room back in Amity Park. I didn't have a lot of my stuff from home, but I tried to keep it all together so that I was ready when I finally could go back.

And even though Vlad has done everything in his power to make me feel safe and at home here, I still miss my parents. I miss going to school and hanging out at the Nasty Burger with Sam and Tucker too. Heck I was even starting to miss fighting ghosts which is insane I know. But at least when I was fighting them I felt like I was doing something with my life. Here, I felt completely useless, that's why I thought training with Vlad would help me feel better and that it wouldn't matter what he taught me first. So of COURSE Vlad had to rush off as soon as we could finally get started, which I shouldn't be surprised about since it's the story of my life. Oh, and then I just had to embarrass myself in front of him by messing up so much while learning something he considered basic. Well, at least Vlad was teaching me something useful that I never would have guessed we could do, which was to absorb leftover ecto-energy from around us mid-fight to recharge or use in place of our own. I can think of a few times when having an extra boost like that would have helped a lot.

Anyway, while I didn't mind practicing a bit on my own while Vlad took care of this big _'emergency'_ of his I have to admit that I'm feeling really annoyed by the bad timing. You'd think I was used to it by now but it was harder to reign in since this is something I've been looking forward to since Vlad convinced me he was on my side now. I felt like it was ok to look up to him and ask for advice since Vlad wasn't doing anything bad, that I knew of anyway. How was I supposed to know he'd be constantly holed up in his office like this, the same way my parents usually were in the lab? I knew Vlad's been working hard on something or another for the past week but I figured he was just helping Axion Labs with the ghost shield stuff or something like that where they needed his personal instructions.

He wouldn't be holing himself up like this just to do something illegal when Vlad said he'd much rather spend his time with me, right? But then what did I know...? Vlad was an adult, and as long as what he was doing wasn't something he planned to use against me, my friends, or my family, not to sound heartless or anything but it just wasn't worth trying to stop him from doing it anymore. I mean Vlad made it very clear that he didn't care how he looked to anyone else and wasn't going to start raising funds to find a cure for the common cold or cancer. Vlad was still Vlad after all.

With a groan, I flew back outside holding the cell phone in my hand since this suit didn't exactly have pockets and started making my way back to the football field. I didn't even make it half way before a familiar white wisp of air suddenly escaped my lips and I thought, "What the-? Why is my ghost sense going ooomph-!"

Not sure if it was an ectoblast I took to my gut or an invisible punch, I was sent barreling straight into the ground and the force of my fall sent the cell phone flying from my hand, and it slammed against the bleachers and broke into pieces. Still stunned by the unexpected attack I let instinct take over and it didn't matter who or what was attacking me, they struck first so it meant they asked for it. So tracking the ghost signature I felt and trying to place who my enemy was, none other than Skulker became visible and I stared at him in shock.

"Skulker?! What're YOU doing here?" I asked him, charging my hands with ecto-energy and glaring at Skulker hatefully.

"I could ask you the same question ghost boy," Skulker smirked, charging his weapon as well and aiming it between my eyes. "Looks like I finally caught up to you, and how convenient that I find you out here all alone..."

 _Is this some kind of test? Did Vlad put him up to this? Or if he didn't is Skulker still working for Vlad? But...why? WHY would he let Skulker come here unless- no, it doesn't matter! I'll go ask that jerk myself after kicking Skulkers butt because I'm not letting him ruin my life outside of Amity Park too! I am so SICK of Skulker hunting me down every chance he gets like I'm some kind of animal just like my parents did! I am so sick of ghosts like Skulker thinking they can get away with everything and making me feel like I don't have any control of my life anymore! Well guess what, there's no one here to control me now so I didn't have to hold back, if this isn't something Vlad set up and he really does care more about me then his stupid old bad-guy buddies, well maybe its time for me to finally teach Skulker a lesson he'll never forget, and that's not to mess with me when I'm angry!_

In a blind rage that seemed to have come out of nowhere, since I wasn't even listening to Skulker's pointless monologue anymore I decided to use the trick Vlad just taught me and pulled in all the remaining ecto-energy still left over from our training earlier to charge into a single attack and let loose a savage battle cry because I was seriously pissed off about this. I thought Vlad was going to keep me safe by not letting his old buddies get their mits on me. He lied to me! Why else would Skulker be here?! Why else would any of my enemies come this far away from Amity Park just to screw up everything for me again!?

I think Skulker finally noticed how angry I was because he lowered his weapon and gaped at me in shock when I unleashed what I thought was an attack, but it wasn't. Instead of a beam of energy rushing at him, it condensed right in front of me and revealed a familiar swirling green circle. A ghost portal. When I opened my eyes I was just as shocked when I saw it, but it didn't last long because then I felt a wave of weakness wash over me as the portal stretched and warped and grew until a howling wind could be heard when it started pulling everything around it into the portal. I was sucked in first and because the pull was so strong even Skulker couldn't get away and was sucked in too. I lost sight of him almost immediately and felt like I was being pulled in every direction before...everything went black.

* * *

I have no idea how long I was out for, but when I opened my eyes I was floating somewhere in the middle of the Ghost Zone. My head was throbbing painfully and it took awhile for everything to come back into focus. The headache made it hard to think but I knew I had better make sure Skulker wasn't around before I did anything else. So straightening myself out I turned in a complete circle looking for any sign of him, but he wasn't anywhere in sight...the portal was gone too but it's possible that I just floated away from it while I was unconscious.

Either way this wasn't looking good, I didn't know where I was and I felt really weak so if anything tried to attack me here I wouldn't be able to defend myself. But that wasn't even the scariest part. Once my head became a little less fuzzy it occurred to me that I just...MADE a ghost portal! How the heck did I manage that?! Was this just another new power I was developing because of my growth spurt, or was it one I didn't know I already had until now like what happened with my ice powers? And how was I suddenly able to create one out of the blue like that when I didn't know the first thing about it?! I still couldn't even duplicate myself and THAT was a basic power for us too according to Vlad! Or, was this...a power of mine that I've always had that carried over when Dan was created in his timeline and unlike me he managed to learn how to-?!

Trying to think past the annoying dull throb in my head, I winced and told myself, "No, don't think about it too hard because that won't solve anything. I need to calm down and think about this. I can't do anything about what happened now and since I'm already -ouch- in the Ghost Zone anyway maybe this is my chance to talk to Clockwork and finally get some answers! If I can make it to his tower in one piece then Clockwork can just send me back to Vlad's through one of his time portals and everything will be fine and he won't know the difference. Plus, that way I won't get lost trying to find my way back on my own. And I don't want to risk going through my parents portal by mistake or one of those temporary ones. It's worth a shot, otherwise I'm screwed anyway since it'll be hard to explain what happened to Vlad once he finds out I'm gone. He owes me some answers too about why Skulker was there anyway," I nodded to myself and just to be safe, I used what energy I had left to turn invisible, hoping that I could hold it long enough to recharge just by being here where there was tons of ecto-energy and I didn't have to think about it too much right now since it was hard to anyway with this throbbing ache in my head.

First of all I needed to find some sort of landmark so I could get my bearings. There weren't any islands where I was but it was dark here, which meant I was already somewhere in the older part of the Ghost Zone. Clockwork explained this to me once during one of my visits. He said that in this section of the Ghost Zone there isn't as much raw ecto-energy here, let alone enough to form new islands, and the ghosts that live in this area are very old or thrive in dark places. And thankfully most of them are confident enough in their power that they don't feel the same urge to accumulate more ecto-energy like the _'newer'_ ghosts did and that was good news for me. Because it meant as long as I was careful they would probably leave me alone. I just have to make sure I don't get too close to their territory or do anything to make them angry...

Trust me if anyone had a good reason to be mad right now, it was me. It all happened so fast, but it didn't make any sense for Skulker to be at Vlad's mansion so was that even really him, or was it a hologram or something meant to trick me? Did I freak out for no reason again? I wasn't really sure this time. I've grown all too familiar with his ghost signature too but something felt off about it this time, or was it me that felt a little off?

Sure I was upset about Skulker showing up, but the way I acted...it was so unlike me. I felt so angry and betrayed, but at the same time I knew there had to be some kind of explanation for this. Vlad wouldn't just throw Skulker at me when he was reluctant to let me use my powers in the first place until he thought I was ready, Vlad didn't even want to fight me yet in a sparring match, so it made no sense why he would suddenly pit me against Skulker this time. If we were lucky, Skulker just showed up on his own and it had nothing to do with Vlad. Maybe Skulker was feeling bored and was looking for work when he happened to spot me flying over Vlad's castle.

Still, what did Skulker mean when he said he'd _'finally caught up to me?'_ Did that mean Skulker has been looking for me ever since I left Amity Park? Holy cow, I must really be his favorite if he still wanted to skin me THAT badly after two months of not fighting him! I mean I knew that once my parents reopened their portal that a lot of my ghost enemies were going to wonder where I ran off to, but this was a bit overkill even for Skulker. Even if he was tracking me, why would Skulker suspect me of running off to Vlad when he KNEW we were sworn enemies? If Skulker thought Vlad still wanted to _'capture'_ me he had no reason to look for me here either unless he was wondering if that's why I'd gone missing, because Vlad kidnapped me again or something. Then again, because of the way Skulker attacked me he probably thought _I_ was the intruder and decided to have some fun at my expense before handing me over to Vlad as a gift like he did when my sister tried to trick information out of Vlad when she ran away from home...

And I wonder if Vlad was going to think I ran away from him once he-

Realizing I had bigger things to worry about, I did like Clockwork taught me I needed to do to reach him and followed the direction where I felt the least ecto-energy since he lived in a really old part of the Ghost Zone that was hard for anyone who didn't know the way how to get to. Though, I waited a few minutes to recharge as much ecto-energy as possible while I was somewhere near the edge of that older section before heading off in that direction. I still felt exhausted but at least my headache was getting better.

It's funny how the old part of the Ghost Zone is considered the most dangerous, but every time I traveled through here it's always so eerily quiet without all the random moaning of those shapeless green ghosts I've seen floating around. I've even seen these tiny green blob ghosts that I think are actually kind of cute. They're totally harmless too and if they like you they purr just like cats. I remember being curious about them once so I coaxed a few over to me to find out a little more about them. I was even tempted to bring one home with me as a pet once until I realized they would probably get lonely if I left it alone all the time while I was busy fighting other ghosts, plus if my parents found it wandering the house...well I'm sure it goes without saying what would happen to it. They probably would have met the same fate I almost did, but still...seeing some of them here might make me feel less anxious about the silence.

 _Ugh, focus! Why is it so hard for me to focus...? I can't think straight! I better get to Clockwork fast,_ I thought, shaking my head and flying faster, relieved when I finally spotted an island that I quickly recognized. What were the odds that I was already so close? Then again, there was probably some of Clockwork's time junk involved in this somehow so knowing him he was probably expecting me. And that meant he had answers, I just had to convince him to give them to me. But then again, what was it I really wanted to ask him? Did I want to know if there actually is a way to patch things up with my parents after all this? Did I want to ask Clockwork why this happened to me in the first place? I had a billion questions, and I had no idea how to ask them...

Either way there's one thing I wanted to ask for sure, and yeah I may want to know a lot of things, but if I was ever going to figure out what was happening to me I NEEDED to know what Dan was up to and how he managed to get into my head like this in the first place. Maybe that's why my head still hurts, maybe it hurt because...Dan was pulling me towards him somehow now that I was in the Ghost Zone again, just like that time near Vlad's second ghost portal and when we were in Frostbite's village.

And once I talked to Clockwork, I'd know for sure.

* * *

By the time I finally made it to Clockwork's Tower I felt like I had just flown thousands of miles instead of only a few because I kept zoning in and out so much. And because I knew exactly who was inside of there I felt a wave of relief wash over me once I made it to the door but at the same time my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach since Dan was somewhere in the tower too, trapped in a Fenton thermos. This might be my only chance to get answers though before Vlad found out I was gone if he hadn't already, that part bothered me too, but not enough to forget about how pissed I was that he let Skulker get anywhere near me.

Clockwork always knew when I was about to pay him a visit so I didn't bother knocking, and since he was usually on the top floor where his viewing portals are that's where I headed to first. Now that I was here though I couldn't let my mind wander anymore. I couldn't let Dan latch onto me now that we were so close. It took all of my self restraint not to fly all over the tower looking for Clockwork to warn him that something was wrong with me, I mean, his viewing portals could only tell him so much and since Dan was in my head somehow and my emotions have been so out of control lately because of what happened and the nightmares even he might not suspect anything. Vlad wasn't even sure if there was anything to suspect either and he knew even less about what was really going on with me. That's why I needed to know! I needed to know how to stop this and how...or why I was able to make a portal here in the first place. Only Dan could do that right? Or was I becoming more like him every passing day and-!

Just as I opened my mouth to call out for him and turned my head, Clockwork appeared in front of me, floating calmly as if he had been there the whole time and said, "Greetings young halfa, I've been expecting you." Swallowing hard I tried to tell him what was going on but I felt so dizzy that he had to steady me with one arm when I almost turned human again, his old-form one to be exact, which felt so brittle holding me up but at the same time surprisingly strong. "Easy, you used a lot of energy to reach me so take a moment to rest."

"I can't. No time..." I began when...the dizziness, just like that it was gone! How...?

Looking up at Clockwork who gave me one of his rare warm smiles and mused, "On the contrary, we have all the time in the world. Now please, take a seat and use this time to collect your thoughts. Judging from your troubled expression, this is no ordinary visit and we have much to discuss..."

Collapsing onto the sofa that appeared out of nowhere my mind went blank, confused that I didn't feel that pull from Dan anymore. Did Clockwork do something? Did he already know what was happening? But then why didn't he warn me about him sooner and tell me not all of my nightmares were from remembering everything Dan put me through? Was he waiting for me to come to him? Did he know I was living with Vlad...? Ugh who was I kidding, Clockwork probably knew what my first word was and what I might have for breakfast two days from now...

Returning to his middle-aged-form since Clockwork liked switching his age and appearance at random, Clockwork put his hands on my shoulders and against my will I started to relax. Maybe this was another power of his; since Clockwork was the Master of Time after all and sometimes he had to pull ghosts from their timelines to help set them on the right path, so I guess being able to calm them down helped if talking didn't do any good. Still, whatever Clockwork was doing I tried to resist it at first but I was so tired and emotionally tapped out that after awhile I just let it happen. I trusted him, and if Clockwork knew what was happening to me he could help me stop Dan from doing it, he just had to!

* * *

It felt like had I just barely closed my eyes for a second before I was slowly opening them again and found myself laying down on that sofa Clockwork conjured up earlier with a blanket over me. Meanwhile, as for Clockwork himself, when I looked around for him he was next to his viewing portals tinkering with his staff as if all of this was normal. How could he be so calm though?! Didn't Clockwork already know that Dan was plotting something right under his nose? Or maybe since Dan knew how Clockwork's powers worked he knew how to keep him from finding out that he was messing with me for real, just like with Vlad. But I had to know for sure! If he didn't already know then I had to warn him.

I didn't hesitate when I pulled the blanket off and floated over to Clockwork, my mouth going a bit dry since I had so much to ask him and I wasn't sure how to. But first things first, he needed to know Dan was up to something. And as hard as it was to put my worst fear into words I knew I had to suck it up and just do it so I started with the most obvious question, "Clockwork, where's Dan's thermos?"

"It's safe," Clockwork replied indifferently without looking at me. "Lets just say, for the time being I've placed Dan somewhere not easily accessible to anyone. Much like my tower, few know such a place even exists, and those who do can only enter when it is within the time stream or they are allowed to find it as it was in your case. After all, you're someone important that needs a more of direct line of communication with me that doesn't involve using my preferred...impalpable methods. Now tell me, why are you so concerned about his whereabouts? Did something happen?"

I know it's childish and that Clockwork never asked a question without a reason, even though he already knew the answers, but it felt like such a slap to the face that he was flat out pretending NOT to know exactly what was going on so I exploded and before I could stop myself I flung my arms into the air and yelled, "Are you kidding me?! What HASN'T happened!? I've been having nightmares about Dan for months, but I thought it was all just in my head because I was worried about history repeating itself if I stepped out of line even once by mistake! Well, turns out is IS all in my head! Or better yet, HE'S IN my head! I don't know how, but Dan's doing something to me and I don't know how to stop him! Two months ago my parents...they attacked me when I walked into the house in ghost form by mistake and Vlad saved me. But after that...after that things looked so hopeless because I thought I messed up my second chance! I thought I lost everything I cared about all over again even though they're still alive so I tried to-I tried to kill myself to make sure Dan couldn't come back once it hit me that I was putting everyone at risk by trusting Vlad. I was wrong though. For once, Vlad's not the problem this time. I am! I let him get to me and Dan managed to take control of my duplicate to stop me from doing it since he still needs me. He can't exist in this or any other timeline without me, I know that! What I don't understand is why you let any of this happen!? Why did you let my parents send me running off to the last person I wanted to rely on?! Why are you letting him mess with me when you can stop it by sending that monster into a wormhole or somewhere way in the past where he can't hurt me or anyone I care about?! Why won't you just get rid of him!? I beat him fair and square right? And you saved my family when I wasn't strong enough to do it myself. So why won't you just put a stop to this so I don't have to feel so afraid all the time of Vlad finding out I'M that monster?!" Breathing heavily, I waited for Clockwork to say something. But he didn't move an inch, in fact, the most he did was stop tinkering with his staff and turn on one of his viewing portals. I was just about to start yelling again when instead, I just grabbed two fists full of my ghostly white hair and begged him, "Please, Clockwork just tell me what I should do! I'm so tired of feeling like a failure all the time now; to my friends, my family, my teachers...to Vlad. I try so hard to do the right thing but it's never enough! And when I finally decide to do something for myself, like I did when I risked trusting Vlad and he finally let me be myself and I agreed to let him take care of me and teach me more about myself, it blew up in my face and I wonder why I even bother trying! I almost died when my core went out of control and then Skulker attacked me today! I thought I mattered to Vlad more then his stupid petty schemes but maybe I was wrong. Maybe Sam and Tucker were right about him. But that doesn't change the fact that without Vlad I have nowhere else to go! My parents still hate the other side of me and if they found out the truth...THEY might be the ones who create Dan this time and I can't risk it. You made it very clear that you can't swoop in and save the day like you did before so if I mess this up, it's over. And I can't see any way out of this except for...permanently removing Dan. I know I could just remove myself but the last time I tried that it made me realize...I...I don't want to die. There's still so much I want to do with my life that doesn't involve ghost fighting, I just don't know what it is yet. Isn't that how it's supposed to be? Don't I still have a choice? Or am I doomed to fail no matter what...I just don't know what to believe anymore if it feels like every road is leading me to becoming Dan. The fact that I'm even here is because I used a power I'm not supposed to have, just like my Ghostly Wail. This is one of HIS powers, not mine, and I can't control it! And if I can't control myself then what's going to happen when he takes over and-"

"It's quite the contrary actually," Clockwork mused, unphased by the desperation that crept into my voice by the time he finally turned to face me. "While it is true that Dan developed many new abilities due to his fusion with Vlad Plasmius in his timeline, his core abilities come almost entirely from you. The fact that you CAN use the same Ghostly Wail without the powers of Vlad Plasmius is proof of this. You always had that potential from the moment you obtained your ghost powers. The same applies to the power to create ice at will now that your core has begun to mature and ghost portals, which you've only recently discovered. There is a key difference here though between how he obtained his powers, and how you have. Think Danny, where do your paths already differ? Do not worry about the similarities, because ultimately these recent developments are merely unfortunate coincidences that have nothing to do with what choices you've made. Because you're right, the fact that you were sleep deprived when your parents chased you out is no fault of your own, and neither is it Dan's. Not everything is some conspiracy against you. However, you are right in assuming that doesn't mean he hasn't taken advantage of this situation you're in."

I drew a blank at first about what he meant because as far as I could tell things were still way too similar to Dan's timeline. I couldn't see my friends or family anymore, couldn't go to school or ghost fight, and I was living with- "Vlad? No way, that can't be it! I thought living with him was WHY Dan came into existence which is why I have to make sure he never finds out the truth. Because what'll happen to me if he does? Will Vlad decide he wants me to be his evil underling after all? Will Vlad think I've gone insane and try to fix me? Or what if he kicks me out?!"

"Danny," Clockwork said in his no-nonsense tone of voice and he placed a hand on my shoulder just as he shifted into his old-man form. "That, is exactly it. The Danny that eventually became Dan didn't have a choice when he went to live with Vlad Masters. His family and friends perished, leaving him a broken grief-stricken young man that Vlad took advantage of because he thought he finally had the son he wanted, and all he had to do was fix his broken heart and spirit and then everything would be perfect. Vlad allowed his selfish ambitions to cloud his judgment and that led him to do the unthinkable in order to save his Danny from that painfully deep depression. In his haste to win his Danny over, Vlad never even considered counseling or healthier routes to do so because he was afraid that Danny would suddenly come to his senses, remember who he really was, and run away from him the first chance he got. After all, even though Danny was sent to live with Vlad, that Vlad was still only an enemy in his eyes. And much like you did at first, the other Danny assumed that his Vlad didn't really care about him either or about the fact that he'd lost his reason for living, because now Vlad had what he wanted, a half-ghost son. That is why all of Vlad's efforts to prove his sincerity to his Danny were futile. After that, he began fading away, wishing only for the pain to stop, but Danny was also afraid that if he tried to end his life using any...drastic means then he couldn't be with his loved ones in the hereafter and he'd simply become a ghost haunted forever by their tragic deaths. Gripped by that fear Danny finally caved and in desperation turned to his Vlad for help. But this time around, it was you who chose to trust Vlad Masters and you went to live with him willingly only AFTER he proved his sincerity, which makes all the difference. Thanks to your efforts, your Vlad has already begun to change for the better and change the course of his future as well. And now you have a parental figure who can attend to your everyday needs, a teacher who can guide you through the changes your body is undertaking thanks to your ghost DNA, and someone who accepts every facet of who you are, not just one part of you. Dan did not have any of this. Believe me, the Vlad of that timeline tried everything to get you to respond, but nothing he offered, not even that guidance you craved, could reach you because you no longer thought there was any point in having powers since they weren't enough to save the ones you love."

Trying to let that all sink in I looked away from him and said, "I...I sort of get that now, what Dan must've felt back then. But it doesn't change the fact that he's evil and dangerous! And what do you mean I'm changing Vlad's future? If you ask me, I'm only making it worse by involving him in any of this..."

"You don't really believe that," Clockwork replied, letting go of my shoulder and shifting to his child-form before waving his hand in front of one of the only viewing portals he had on. "And just to prove it, I want to show you a glimpse of where his life was heading before you gave him a chance to change. You were both already on a collision course because against your better judgment you decided to lash out at him in anger for cloning you by pulling some rather underhanded pranks yourself, which coaxed Vlad to reciprocate in kind. And trust me when I say that things would have turned out much worse for the two of you had continued on that destructive path..."

I hesitated at first since Clockwork usually kept a tight lid on showing me any possible future events so whatever he had to show me had to be serious if he was taking that risk. Swallowing hard, I took a few steps closer to the viewing portal and nodded for Clockwork to go ahead and show me. And what I saw wasn't pretty at all, in fact, even though he didn't show me events frame by frame and it was mostly just fragments of the two of us fighting and Vlad getting more desperate to fill the empty void in his life, I could already tell this wasn't going to end well for either of us. Eventually I watched as Vlad even gave up on winning me over to his side and decided to try to take over the world! Yeah right, as if that would have made Vlad happy either if that other future I went through where he WAS married to my mom clearly didn't make him happy. After all, how could they be happy if Vlad didn't trust her to love him without lying about my dad hating her and wanting revenge? How could my mom be happy if she was still studying ghosts behind his back even though Vlad forbid it, fearing she'd learn the truth about my dad only being half-ghost and not the monster he painted him as? It's like they had to lie to each other anyway and only put on an act of being in love as the perfect power couple. Which by the way is still totally gross!

It honestly made me sick seeing Vlad act this way, like a truly cliché cartoon villain who selfishly put the entire world in danger by mistake, and then like an idiot decided to take advantage of the situation, revealed himself as Plasmius without a back up plan in case things went south, and basically took the entire world hostage by claiming he was the only one who could save us. The Vlad I knew was smarter than this! But what made me feel even sicker was seeing that I let him get away with it too because it turns out that I tried to get rid of my powers just the day before when it felt like Amity Park didn't need Danny Phantom anymore to fight off ghosts because as mayor Vlad hired these three teen weirdos in red to do it _'more effectively'_ and they took over my job. What the heck was I thinking!? Why would I ever want to get rid of my powers?! Without them I'm a nobody and I wouldn't be able to enjoy the freedom of flying anymore! And besides, if those guys actually were doing a decent job of it then maybe...it would have been ok to let them take over my job for awhile and only step in if it turned out Vlad was scamming people instead of just trying to put me out of a job I never wanted in the first place!

Then finally, I saw Vlad and my dad go up into space to stop this cataclysmic event and they finally talked about the accident that made him half ghost and for the first time in my life, my dad actually looked like he understood and was sorry for what he did. But Vlad didn't care, he didn't want an apology from my dad anymore, he only wanted my mom and was probably planning to force me into becoming his underling through blackmail after somehow getting my powers back through any means necessary once he took over the world, which is a scary thought. When it turned out Vlad couldn't touch the asteroid though, my dad did something equally cruel to him that made me shrink back from the screen, seeing the same hateful look in his eyes that I saw when he shot me. And finally, after that Vlad was abandoned out there, stranded out in space, and even though I managed to save the world in the end with the help of all the ghosts in the Ghost Zone after somehow getting my powers back, I turned my back on Vlad too and left him to that fate once I had everything I wanted like a selfish jerk...

"Danny, you must understand that this isn't just about you anymore. In order to prevent Dan from returning in one form or another and to prevent Vlad from making a mistake that also endangers the lives of hundreds of millions of people and every ghost in the Ghost Zone, Vlad Masters also needs to change the course of his future as well. He needs to be given a second chance as much as you were. After all, Dan still needs him just as much as he needs you in order for his plan to work because it was Vlad's darkness that corrupted an already broken boy in his timeline and he has every intention of breaking you down again. You forget, that Dan is also made of half of Vlad Plasmius. As such Vlad has every right to know the truth about him and what led to his creation. Concealing the truth from him will only leave him ill prepared to face a ghost that easily equals him in cunning and powers that you have yet to master. While you cannot tell Vlad about what I've shown you concerning where his future could have led you both had this not have happened, you can show him that his efforts to prove himself to you now are not in vain. You can show him that you trust him and in the good you've seen in Vlad thanks to an equally broken man who also had to lose everything he loved, including you, before he realized that he was wrong all along. What happens to you does not define you or your future, it is your choices, and while everyone makes mistakes they also need at least one person to stand by them no matter what and show them a better path. You can save him from himself, and likewise he's the only one who can save you from yourself since I cannot help you this time. In order to erase Dan from history forever, a time will come when you must face him together and prove that you can defeat the darkest embodiment of you both. For Dan is as much a part of Vlad as he is of you. And only Vlad has any chance of defeating him should you falter. Your parents, the Red Huntress, your friends, your sister, none of them stand a chance against him, and the only way to keep them safe is by confronting Dan with Vlad by your side as he was meant to be. As an ally."

"But what about Skulker!" I blurted out. "If Vlad's really on my side now why is he still working with a guy he knows wants to skin me alive!? How can I trust him?"

With a carefully blank look on his face, Clockwork changed to his middle-aged-form again and holding his staff close he explained, "That's something you'll have to ask him yourself. Give him a chance to explain himself, and you'll find that things are not so black and white as you still think they are. Good men do terrible things for the greater good, and those who walk a darker path sometimes have noble if misguided intentions. And if you ever want him to trust in you not to shun his help, you must first ask for it and show him trust by telling him everything. Only then can you both take the next step forward to discover a new future you never thought possible that will benefit you both and save many lives. I won't force you to tell him the truth about Dan, but know that you'll only make things harder for yourself if you don't because from this moment on...you're on your own I'm afraid. I've given you what help and advice that I can but the rest is up to you to decide. And I believe Vlad will make the right choice this time when the time comes, all thanks to the changes you've already brought into his life. You simply have to keep believing that someone like him still can change..."

"What? No! Clockwork, you can't-!" I exclaimed, reaching out when he calmly pressed the button on top of his staff and said, _'Time Out'_ and my world went still and silent as the grave. And when it was over, I was alone again in the middle of nowhere and this time I couldn't tell if I was on the edge of the Ghost Zone or smack dab in the middle. He couldn't be serious though! Did Clockwork seriously expect me to just tell Vlad about my biggest fear? Did he expect me to handle this by myself!? No! No I had to go back and convince him to just get rid of Dan some other way, I couldn't face him alone and I didn't want Vlad anywhere near that creep! Why? Because Vlad was-

"Daniel? No, that's impossible..." a familiar voice gaped from behind me and I whirled around instinctively, ready to attack in a blind panic when a pair of black gloves snatched my wrists and my eyes snapped up to meet his.

"V-Vlad? How did you-? Wait, no, just forget it and let go of me you two-faced jerk!" I yelled, kicking him in the gut and knocking the wind out of him just enough so he let go and floated back a few inches. "I should have known better. I should have known this was all a lie and you were playing me. So you know what, I'm out of here-"

"Daniel stop!" Vlad growled, grabbing me again by the shoulder and shaking me, his eyes wild with shock and alarm. "Are you alright? How on earth did you get here? Did Dan-!"

Glaring at him I snapped, "As if you don't already know! It was Skulker's fault, your old buddy decided to make a house call and..."

Whatever else I was about to say died on my lips as a flash of bright white light blinded us both and I suddenly felt...claws digging deep into my shoulders and a low snarl reached my ears, and by the time my vision cleared enough to see what was attacking me, I saw the gaping maw of what looked like some sort of ghostly panther, ready to make me into it's next meal.


	57. Shade Striker

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (11/12/2018):** Sorry again for the delay, had some more family drama but hopefully it will be worth the wait since this chapter is action packed! Enjoy! Also, there's an extra note at the end of the chapter so read all the way to the end to find out how to check out my special surprise!

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Chapter 56: Shade Striker

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Vlad's POV

If the situation wasn't as serious as I feared after Skulker warned me that the Fright Knight was acting rather peculiar, I never would have left Daniel alone like this. But the fact that someone managed to trick the Fright Knight into thinking I was calling him was no trivial matter. As you may recall, the communication method I gave him was set up to prevent this by only responding to my unique ecto-signature. And the only one I knew who was capable of matching it could only be...

Dan.

I knew of ghosts with the ability to disguise themselves as humans of course, even as other ghosts, but one thing I know that's impossible to duplicate is another ghost's signature. It's like a fingerprint, and no two are ever exactly the same. Unless they're created artificially that is. Daniel and I are very unique in this regard in that we can sense the presence of other ghosts and isolate its source with practice, but your average ghost cannot because they lack the same type of _'survival instinct'_ that their human counterparts possessed due to the simple fact that they're deceased beings. They can't die since they're no longer alive, however if their energy is completely depleted they run the risk of disappearing entirely if they can no longer manifest in a physical form.

When a human senses something unnatural they know to be wary, but since ghosts ARE unnatural themselves they have to rely on their other senses to gauge how much of a threat another ghost poses to them. Technically all humans can sense ghosts to a small degree, it's part of every living thing's inherit survival instinct I suppose since ghosts aren't meant to exist over in the real world. However, thanks to our status as hybrids, Daniel's normal senses and my own have all been enhanced, especially the one that allows us to track ecto-energy and manipulate it in a way normal ghosts can't unless they were formed with that kind of power, or they steal it by force.

I knew the Fright Knight was loyal to me, but he was still a ghost so if someone more powerful dominated him again I could lose his valuable skills. More importantly, this was my chance. The chance to finally catch a glimpse of this monster that's targeting Daniel and formulate a plan to dispose of him. With him gone, Daniel would have nothing left to fear. He would finally smile for me again and not look so pained and on guard no matter what I did to reassure him, he would let me teach him all there was to know about what we are and what we can do, what HE could do...

Even now Daniel's potential to create his own portals alone was something I never once imagined him capable of. And while our training session didn't last long due to this sudden emergency, Daniel's progress was astonishing even though he clearly didn't think so but that was because he still lacked the confidence. That too, would return in time so for now I had to focus on tracking Dan's location down so I could go back to Daniel before anything happened and continue preparing him for the inevitable confrontation because I had a feeling he wouldn't be satisfied if I told him Dan was no more. No, Daniel needed to see it with his own eyes and with any luck, finish this creature off himself to prove once and for all that HE was the superior one and that he was in control of his future, of his life. And once that happened, Daniel would be himself again, in fact I'm sure he'll change more than a little bit and have me to thank for it. And the thought of Daniel truly feeling thankful for something I'd done helped me keep a cool head at least at first concerning the possibility of my greatest ally being turned against me if I didn't do something quickly and alert the Fright Knight that someone was trying to make a fool out of him.

After tracking down his last known location, no sooner had I arrived then I felt a powerful presence and immediately gave chase. Skulker's report was right, this ghost, whether it really was Dan or not was impossibly fast so even I was having a difficult time getting a lock on its ghost signature. Even after I teleported a few times to close the distance, despite risking losing sight of it, they were proving to be just as evasive as Skulker said. Whoever it was knew I was chasing them and kept trying to get away but I wasn't about to give up, not if it meant finally confirming that Dan did manage to escape whatever confines Daniel previously had put him in when they first fought and that he was the one trying to turn the Fright Knight against me.

It was unlikely, but if Dan somehow inherited most of my memories about hybrids when he stole my ghost half in that alternate timeline, it was possible that he was using the technique I was currently teaching Daniel to use to manipulate ecto-energy. As hybrids, we can control another ghost's ecto-energy after absorbing it but somehow Dan took this a step further. Because of his existing connection to Daniel, he was trying to basically overshadow him from a distance thanks to the fact that their ecto-signature, due to the fact that Dan was a clone, was the same. Meaning controlling Daniel's ghost half was feasibly possible, and that's exactly what he was doing now. Incidentally, because this Dan stole my ghost half it was possible for him to manipulate my energy too in the unlikely event that he hadn't fully absorbed it already and made it his own. But I have a feeling I'd sense it if he was trying to overshadow me, especially since I didn't possess the same fears Daniel did that Dan was using against him and I'd know that something was amiss right away.

That's the problem I was having with Daniel's current situation. He was holding back a lot from me and nothing I tried would get him to tell me. Daniel had a lot weighing on his heart and mind but unless he decided to tell me it was impossible to tell when Dan was the one pushing his buttons or when it was Daniel giving into his fears and having bad dreams as a result. If I could bring back proof of getting closer to the truth, maybe Daniel would finally realize I was serious about helping him and give me the final piece of the puzzle so I wouldn't have to keep going behind his back like this. I wanted to work with him to get this taken care of before things escalated again but it was infuriating how stubborn the boy could be and how easy it was for him to cling to that last bit of mistrust he had when it came to my true feelings and intentions. I just wish he would trust me already! Haven't I proven myself to him yet? Why did Daniel insist on holding back? Why did he insist nothing was wrong and shoulder these burdens himself when all I wanted to do was-

Snarling in frustration when I let myself get distracted, I lost track of my quarry and was searching for it when my heart nearly stopped when instead of the ghost signature I was expecting to track down, I felt none other than Daniel's out of nowhere. Locking onto it, I saw him looking around, clearly confused so I didn't hesitate. My previous target long forgotten I teleported straight to him and upon seeing it really was him my mind began reeling, "Daniel? No, that's impossible..."

Startled by my words, Daniel whirled around with every intention of attacking me in self defense but I easily stopped him by snatching his wrists and my worried eyes were met by his toxic green panic-stricken ones. He was obviously distressed and on edge so even though was only thanks to my decision to come here that I stopped Daniel from being taken by Dan the moment I left him exposed to the danger I thanked my lucky stars I found him first before Dan or one of Daniel's other enemies. But how did he get here!? Did Daniel break through one of my portals? Did Dan open a portal like the one I saw on the security tapes?

I barely registered what Daniel said before he began to struggle and said, "V-Vlad? How did you-?" His voice turning hard and angry though Daniel snapped and yelled, "Wait, no, let go of me you two-faced jerk!"

Unprepared for his attack Daniel managed to land a sharp kick which stunned me enough to make me let go. He began ranting about something but I didn't care, I HAD to know how he got here and if Daniel was alright! So the moment he tried to fly away from me I stopped him by grabbing his shoulders and gave him a sharp shake, hoping to snap him out of it if Dan was putting him into some sort of trance and confusing him into thinking I was an enemy and demanded, "Daniel stop! Are you alright? How on earth did you get here? Did Dan-!"

Enraged, Daniel's eyes flashed a brighter green and he shouted, "As if you don't already know! It was Skulker's fault, your old buddy decided to make a house call and..."

Before he could finish, Daniel and I were blinded by a bright light and I felt it as Daniel was torn from my grasp and that powerful ghost I was chasing was suddenly upon us. Guess they grew tired of being chased and decided to change tactics and attack. But this presence, it wasn't like anything I've ever felt before and it certainly wasn't anything like Daniel's, still, I couldn't see anything but the blurred shape of something dark pinning Daniel down on a small nearby island where their impact nearly broke it in half and made a small crater. I had to do something but I couldn't risk hitting Daniel so I had no choice but to wait until my vision cleared enough for me to see what we were up against before swiftly flying to Daniel's aid.

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Danny's POV

Even though it's been awhile since I fought a ghost, thankfully my instincts kicked in immediately and I, well, kicked whatever was attacking me off before it could take a bite out of me and blinked, trying to clear the stars out of my eyes after that bright light blinded me. What I saw though was a ghost unlike anything I'd seen before. It was pure black, and by that I mean it literally since no light reflected off it's sleek black fur so it was as dark as anything could possibly be except for its glowing green legs, tail, eyes, and the inside of it's mouth which was charging a ball of ecto-energy to shoot at me once it was back on its feet. I didn't give it long enough to complete its attack and flew straight at it and punched it in the jaw. To my surprise it wasn't sent flying but dug its claws into the little island it slammed me into and reared its head then dug its teeth into my arm!

I yelled out in pain but then felt a sharp painful chill as I felt my ecto-energy being drained like it was some kind of vampire cat and I tried to pry it's mouth open with one hand to get it off me just as its few glowing parts started to get brighter as it drained me. But it's grip was strong like a vice and I actually started to panic a little when Vlad showed up, grabbed it by the tail, turned it intangible and flung it far away from me so it couldn't deal anymore damage to my arm which was now oozing ectoplasmic blood and shot an ecto-energy blast of his own at it's face. He was about to ask if I was alright but the moment I saw the ghost race towards us again I shoved him aside roughly and with a savage cry of my own slung a few waves of ecto-energy at it which it dodged but I used it as an opening to punch it over the top of the head and slam it into the ground with a sharp kick.

The ghost shook it's head and roared at me, ignoring Vlad altogether or at least looking like it was but then it whirled around as Vlad tried to sneak up on it and used a similar move as mine with the energy waves but with a swipe of its paws. Vlad dodged the first set of waves easily, however the attacks were so fast he wasn't so lucky the second time. The energy waves caught the edge of his cape, which tore with a loud ripping noise, and the corner of the attack caught his right leg and left a pair of nasty gashes. He hissed in pain or anger, I couldn't tell which, then created several duplicates to try and corner the beast.

It caught onto his plan though and with that crazy-fast speed it had it took off flying towards a larger island in the distance that reminded me of Skulker's island, but I could tell it wasn't because of the energy it gave off and that there was no literal skull-shaped cave on it. Skulker...just thinking about him set me off and before I knew it I snarled too and took off after the ghost at top speed.

I was so angry! And I didn't want to listen to a word Vlad said as he chased after me too either. Like so many other times before when I was fighting ghosts I used this as an excuse to vent, an outlet for my aggression because I felt so enraged, lost, hurt, even scared after remembering that Clockwork basically told me he wasn't going to help me stop Dan this time. I was on my own. But no, not entirely alone according to him but did he seriously expected me to open up completely and tell VLAD about Dan when I couldn't even bring myself to do that when I was nearly dying?! How could I tell him that after only just stopping seeing HIM as the monster and my enemy? How could I ever admit that I was scared to death of becoming THAT monster?

Well you know what, no, I didn't owe Vlad a damn thing! He lied to me! He let Skulker get close to me when he promised I wasn't going to get attacked by ghosts anymore just when I dared to think I might be safe again! At least for the most part since Dan was still an issue. I was so stupid to think Vlad would ACTUALLY stop scheming behind my back! That jerk was never going to change! He was going to keep lying to my face and maybe he lied about caring about me just to make me drop my guard and he used Skulker as an excuse to come 'save' me to make himself look good and like he really was my protector now. Nice try buddy but I'm onto your old tricks! And I'm not going to fall for them anymore! I wasn't going to trust anyone anymore, only myself and Jazz because there was no one else who wasn't only looking out for their own interests, just like my parents, just like Sam and Tucker even who secretly loved the thrill of capturing ghosts when to me...it was more serious and if I wasn't careful then any of them could get killed on my watch if I'm not strong enough or fast enough to save them-

Like I wasn't when everyone died in Dan's timeline and nearly did in this one too.

I'm sure Vlad could have easily caught up to me by teleporting but by the time I landed on the larger island I was surrounded by this strange slightly green and glowing mist that made it hard to sense anything else. It probably went both ways too and I kicked myself for not paying attention to the ghost panther's signature so I could keep track of it. Not that it would have helped since it was so fast!

It was like I'd stepped into a horror film with mist clinging to the ground surrounded by dead trees and strange glowing plants I didn't recognize and I kept hearing strange animal calls. Ghost animals to be exact. But this wasn't the first time I've had to play animal control with ghosts too like that time I had to deal with three at once, a wolf, a snake, and one other ghost I always forget what kind of animal it was, maybe some kind of bird? In any case I was livid and wanted to give that ghost a piece of my mind!

"Ouch...!" I winced when my arm throbbed where the stupid thing bit me and I looked down at the wound.

It was still bleeding which seemed odd since I was in the Ghost Zone and there was plenty of residual ecto-energy to absorb to boost my healing but when I removed my glove and pulled up what was left of the sleeve I grimaced after seeing how deep the fangs had dug into my skin and it was black and vein-y around the bite marks as if I'd been poisoned. I felt fine though so that wasn't the case aside from the normal pain in my arm and where it punctured me with it's claws on my shoulders after it pinned me down earlier. I was going to have to take care of these once we got back.

Stopping dead in my tracks, another sort of pain gripped my heart and I wondered if I WANTED to go back with Vlad after what happened with Skulker. Even if it did turn out to be a one time fluke, what was to stop Vlad from doing it again? From working with ghosts he knows are my enemies? If I was being honest with myself, I had to admit Vlad was probably right about the Fright Knight and how he respected my power and wasn't out to make my life miserable since he did have the right to be mad at me for stealing his sword that one time. I should have known better than to play with fire and provoke a ghost on purpose by taking something that wasn't mine. Lesson learned there. And the last time I actually fought him the Fright Knight was only following Pariah Dark's orders...

Then again, there was still that deal he made with Vlad so maybe-

"Daniel! Daniel where are you? Answer me!" I suddenly heard Vlad call out through the fog.

Glaring in the direction of the voice I childishly answered, "Leave me alone you stupid fruitloop! I don't want to talk to you! Go away and just leave me alone!" And since I didn't want to risk him finding me by following my voice, I transformed my legs into a spectral tail and wove between a thick patch of trees, unaware of the ghost creature's glowing eyes following my every movement.

While I was chasing the ghost, Vlad was chasing me so thinking I was oh-so-very-smart for coming up with the idea I changed back into my human form and climbed up the tallest tree I could find hoping to get a better look around me without flying out into the open. But when my arm hurt too much to climb very high up I changed back and floated down, irritated that this stupid ghost seemed to have powers that blocked my ghost regeneration powers just like the gun my dad shot me with so at least now I knew I needed to avoid getting bitten or scratched by that thing again. Come to think of it, Vlad got hurt too didn't he? Maybe that's why he was so dead set on finding me and getting us out of here because this ghost wasn't playing around. It was powerful, possibly very old too given where we were which was at least close to the old part of the Ghost Zone since I didn't recognize this island but it didn't feel...new to me.

Besides the fog and all the strange plants this forest felt really old and had this odd smell to it too, like dead roses which wasn't exactly pleasant but decent at least. I also noticed these odd glowing crystals when my boot hit a small pile of them while I was walking. They were the long and thin kind that reminded me of the prisms you'd find on one of those fancy chandeliers in ballrooms or castles like Vlad's but these were naturally formed to a point and broken off at the end as if they'd been scrapped off a wall or something. There were a lot of them too I noticed, some still glowing and others empty and clear except for this almost foggy look inside of them. I didn't know what they were for or where they came from but I quickly realized why there were so many of them here...

Turns out I'd stumbled on the ghost's home turf. Dropping the crystal in my hand, the fog around me suddenly turned black like smoke instead, as if it was trying to make it even darker and hard for me to see. To counter it I quickly lit my hand with ecto-energy but then my eyes widened in shock when the light of my energy faded out and the crystals at my feet absorbed my energy then turned black too so I couldn't see where they were or feel it anymore. I tried kneeling down and feeling for them with my hands but even when I found one I couldn't get my energy back so I gave up. I still had plenty to spare but I was getting seriously weirded-out now.

"What the heck? What's with this ghost?" I grumbled, trying to feel for it's energy now that I knew the ghost panther was watching me, or better yet prowling and waiting to strike.

Well, I wasn't going to wait for it to catch me off guard again! I knew it could absorb my energy which was _'supposed'_ to be a rare ghost power but maybe Vlad was lying about that too or wasn't as smart as he thought he was so without thinking I charged an attack and shot several ecto-energy blasts into the darkness to illuminate the area just long enough to see what was around me and scanned the trees for the outline of that creature's form. As far as I could tell there were no other ghosts here besides some other weird creatures that dashed out of sight the moment I came close, smart, because I wasn't in the mood to deal with anything but the one that attacked me.

Eventually I spotted something and was about to shoot at it when- "Daniel for pities sake be careful! You almost hit me!" Vlad called, shoving past a thick branch which broke with a loud snap but he didn't care, instead it looks like somehow he managed to still sense my ghost signature even with that confusing fog from earlier and followed it here.

Still pissed off at him I growled, "Well it'd serve you right for lying to me!"

"What are you talking about?" Vlad huffed, finally reaching me and grabbing my arm, "Well nevermind that now, we have to get out of here Daniel. That ghost that attacked you was no ordinary one, it's a Shade Striker."

"A...what?" I asked slowly, half-curious half-suspicious since he could just be making that up as he goes to make himself look like he knows everything as usual.

"I'll explain later!" Vlad snapped, gripping my arm harder with a hint of urgency in his voice that surprised me but then remembering why I was here in the first place I grabbed his hand and tore myself from his grip.

"I'm not going anywhere with you! I told you to leave me alone!" I turned around, getting ready to fly off and forget that dumb ghost and him when Vlad shouted-

"Look out!"

Acting entirely on instinct when I felt the air shift as the ghost lept around us, getting ready to strike again from the shadows, I created an energy ball and flung it with all my might at the creature just as it revealed itself and my attack sent it flying through the trees, snapping them on impact, and I went after it. Why couldn't it just leave us alone!? Blinded by rage, I saw it try to return to its feet and grabbed it by the tail and flung it into a nearby cliff-face at full force and heard a sickening snap. Looks like I broke one of its legs but I didn't care. I wanted it gone. I wanted everyone gone and to leave me alone so I flew up to it, ignoring its whimper of pain, and punched it into the cliff again. It fell and growled at me so I shot it with an energy blast. And again when it tried to get away after swiping it with its paw and absorbing the blast. It must have realized this was a losing fight but I kept hitting it again and again, only planning to stop when it couldn't move anymore so it wouldn't be able to hurt me or anyone else again.

I don't know what came over me, but seeing such a powerful ghost so helpless in front of me as it tried to get away made me feel so alive, so in control. I couldn't stop. I didn't want to stop. I wanted to pour all of my feelings of hatred into each and every one of those attacks since this ghost brought it on themselves, it attacked me first. And I was done holding back. This time, this ghost was going to learn a painful lesson so it would never try to mess with me again. Skulker was going to get the same lesson too when I found him because I was done being someone else's prey! I'm the hero always fighting ghosts and fighting for my life, I never attacked first, and maybe Vlad was right and I should have. I have the right to defend myself and maybe playing nice really wasn't the best way to get them to learn to back off. I was too merciful. But not anymore! Starting with this ghost, I was going to make sure everyone knew that I was strong enough to take care of myself! I didn't need Jazz, my parents, Clockwork, or Vlad!

I DIDN'T NEED ANYONE!

Realizing what I was about to do, as a last ditch effort to stop my attack as I inhaled deeply to unleash my Ghostly Wail and bury the damn thing alive I suddenly felt Vlad jerk me back and cover my mouth with both hands and tell me to get a hold of myself. I struggled and kicked, heck I even bit his hand, but Vlad refused to let go of me and when I looked down, the ghost or Shade Striker was gone! It got away! Vlad let it get away! What an idiot! Now that thing was going to go after...after...

Wait, who was it going to go after? This was the Ghost Zone, that thing was a native here so...no one I cared about lived here. At least, not anyone who needed my protection. What did I just do? What did I...almost do? Suddenly feeling sick to my stomach I finally pried Vlad's hands off my face and fell to my knees, vomiting. I couldn't believe it, I know I was upset but why did I get so bloodthristy like that? I felt...good making that ghost suffer, making it bleed all over the place. And that wasn't like me at all. That was like Dan...so did I just start acting like him? Was this what Dan felt like when he made his enemies suffer? What the hell was wrong with me!? If Vlad hadn't stopped me then-

"Daniel...are you alright?" Vlad asked hesitantly, kneeling down to touch my back gently.

But since I was still feeling the afterglow of that rage I whirled around, my eyes flashing red, and snarled, "Don't touch me! I'm...I'm fine!" After that I stood up and shrugged out of his reach when he tried to touch me again and wiped my mouth clean with the back of my hand, hating the metallic taste of bile in my mouth. "Let's just get out of here."

"Fine," Vlad replied curtly, a familiar cold edge creeping into his voice as he strode up next to me. "You owe me an explanation anyway as to what possessed you to come here behind my back. That is...assuming you weren't possessed by Dan."

I flinched. "No, I already told you...it was Skulker's fault. What about you? Did your _'emergency'_ involve a surprise trip to the Ghost Zone?"

"It did, if you MUST know," Vlad replied harshly. "At any rate, lets return to the castle. We're both injured and these wounds need tending to before they fester since they're not ordinary wounds. The antidote I made when your parents shot you may help counter this shadow energy blocking our healing powers. Sadly it looks like you got the worst of it."

I snorted and replied sarcastically, "Yeah well what else is new...?"

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 **P.S.** _I normally don't do it like this but I made some artwork of the ghost creature in this chapter so be sure to check it out on my Deviantart page under the name "SecretSigil." I'd share a direct link but this site doesn't like those for some websites so you'll have to look for it after I post this chapter in the Danny Phantom folder. Hope you like it! I'll be share it over on my DP tumblr "The Soul's Pulse" too._


	58. Am I Worth The Risk?

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (11/18/2018):** Hello everyone! Happy early Thanksgiving! This will be the last chapter for awhile since I'm going out of town and want to wait til things calm down again before continuing, besides I'm sure a lot of you already are out of town visiting family too! Hope you'll enjoy this angsty chapter though in the meantime and I'll see you again soon in the next one!

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Chapter 57: Am I Worth The Risk?

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Vlad's POV

Needless to say when we returned to the castle, neither of us were in the mood to talk right away so I did what I could to make myself useful and dressed the injury on my leg before turning my undivided attention to Daniel's wounds. At first he resisted and pulled away from me, but when the pain became too much Daniel finally let me touch him and I began cleaning and tending to his injuries too. Thankfully I had the foresight to keep a spare bottle of the antidote I made for Daniel's gun-wound when this all started on hand and it seemed to help give us both a much needed boost to our ghost healing. It was going to be a slow process because this antidote wasn't designed to combat the effects of shadow powers, but it was better than nothing since I only understood so much about the ghost creature we just fought, the Shade Striker.

What happened today was unavoidable I think mainly because I made the foolish mistake of thinking I could get away with leaving Daniel alone, unprotected even for a couple of hours. But what else could I do when there was so much at stake? When it came right down to it, I could live with losing the Fright Knight as an ally. However, losing out on what might have been my only chance of finding out where that treacherous snake Dan was hiding was something I couldn't afford to risk losing.

What I didn't understand is why Skulker decided to be a completely incompetent moron and go out of his way to come see me when I made it ABUNDANTLY clear I didn't want him anywhere near my castle while we conducted our business anymore to avoid this very thing from happening! I KNEW the temptation to hunt Daniel, should Skulker learn the boy was now in my care, would be irresistible to the ghost hunter. It's my own fault I suppose, keeping that information from him, but I knew Skulker all too well. The more powerful the prey, the more thrilling the hunt and facing the only other half-ghost hybrid in existence was just such a hunt...

Regardless, Skulker would pay for this! Whatever he did to Daniel, whatever danger he put my little badger in, I will definitely put him in his place as soon as I track down that useless heap of scrap metal! Though, at the very least if I wasn't planning on outright firing the fool forever I needed to keep him busy to avoid the same kind of headache in the future. While I appreciated his warning about the Fright Knight it turns out my suspicions about chasing nothing but a shadow was spot on.

And I meant that litera-

"Ow! Geez Vlad are you trying to break my arm?! You're holding it too tight!" Daniel snapped, tearing his arm away which I was busy disinfecting and hugging it close to his chest. "I told you, I can take care of it myself!"

"Well maybe if you'd stop squirming then I could finish faster!" I scoffed haughtily in return, reclaiming his arm and grabbing the cloth again, pressing it harder then I meant to out of sheer annoyance. "Now hold still! I'm almost done. You're lucky that those claws didn't dig too deeply into your skin otherwise that ghost could have drawn energy directly from your core which could have been lethal."

Giving me a dirty look, Daniel asked, "What WAS that thing anyway? You called it a Shade-something. But, how do know that...? Or was that just another one of your little pet projects that got away you were trying to get back?"

Sighing, I let go of his arm and grabbed some clean linens and began wrapping it much more gently this time as I explained tiredly, "No, that ghost is part of a rare species of ghost thought to have long been hunted to extinction centuries ago. You noticed them didn't you? The crystals? When a Shade Striker absorbs too much ecto-energy or light, that energy crystallizes. Then it either sheds them off naturally or breaks the crystals off its body by scratching against trees or breaking them off with its paws. You see, it also has a special kind of ghost core known as a _'Lunar Core'_ because unlike most ghosts it doesn't have its own base energy level. In order to use most of its attacks in the first place it has to rely on absorbing it first from its prey directly or using the same way you and I can by absorbing it from the Ghost Zone's environment itself. Those crystals are very valuable since they can be used as a battery of a sort to store extra energy, meanwhile its pelt can cloak the wearer in a shadow that's virtually impregnable. But that's beside the point..." he was avoiding my gaze but I asked in a firm tone, "...Daniel, what you did back there was beyond reckless. The fact that such a ghost has survived this long means it was either very clever or very old, possibly both. You could have been killed! So why didn't you listen to me when I told you to stop chasing it? Why did you keep running away from me? I swear to you Daniel I didn't know about Skulker! While we were training, I'll admit that Skulker DID call to tell me that the Fright Knight was behaving strangely and that someone was likely impersonating me to summon him. Since there's only one ghost who MIGHT be able to mimic my ghost signature since he stole it in that alternate future I suspected it was Dan so I risked making a trip into the Ghost Zone to give chase without telling you, but...it turns out the ghost Skulker's been tracking for me all this time was only that Shade Striker. To make matters worse, while chasing it thinking it was Dan I suddenly find you there in the Ghost Zone too. And I think to myself...how is that possible? But I know how. It was Dan, wasn't it? He brought you there somehow didn't he? And don't bother trying to lie to me Daniel, I'll know right away! Now it's your turn to explain yourself young man!"

"What's there to explain?" Daniel frowned, backing away from me and looking defensive. "You lied to me! Just when I thought maybe I was safe here with you! But since it turns out I'm not, if you ask me I don't owe you anything! I should have left this place when I had the chance since I'm obviously better off on my own! I can't trust anyone anymore! I can't trust-" gripping his head, he choked, "-Vlad, you knew didn't you? You knew what I was capable of and that's why you tried to stop me! It happened with Skulker too. I got so angry...and..." looking helplessly at the bandages peeking out of my pant leg, Daniel collapsed onto floor, completely chest-fallen, and continued, "...it doesn't matter anymore whether you knew about Skulker or not because I can't stay here anymore! I think part of the problem with Dan being able to get to me is that I'm too close to an active ghost portal. It's probably thanks that I'm still losing this fight inside my own head! It's hopeless...he's getting to me and I just can't seem to stop him. I...wanted to completely destroy Skulker when he attacked me and I wanted do the same that Shade Striker thing so neither of them could hurt me ever again! I wanted everyone to just leave me alone! And the worse part is...I think I was ENJOYING it! Back there, in the Ghost Zone, before I realized what was happening to me, I stopped thinking about just defending myself and went all out against that thing because I felt so alive again. From there it only got worse, I felt this sickening sort of satisfaction from causing it pain and watching it try to get away from me once it realized it was no match, all while it was covered in ectoplasmic blood. That's not like me at all! Those feelings aren't mine, they're his. You can't win against Dan, Vlad, his hold on me is getting too strong. And any hope I might have had of stopping him died when...I did something I shouldn't be able to that he can do too, just like my Ghostly Wail which made me realize that the more powerful my ghost half gets, the stronger his hold on that part of me becomes so training with you will only bring him closer to me. You want to know how I ended up in the Ghost Zone Vlad? It happened while I was charging an attack to teach Skulker a lesson. I poured all of my power into that attack but instead of blasting his head off I made a ghost portal instead. But it was really unstable and pulled the both of us into the Ghost Zone. You can check the security tapes if you don't believe me. And if Dan takes control of me and makes me use that power to go directly to him...then it's all over. But! I don't care what happens to me! I'd rather die then let him win! That's the only hope I have left. The hope that you'll be the one to end me before I destroy everyone close to me...including you. Because this time, Dan won't let you get away just as a powerless and crippled old man this time. He'll kill you. And he'll use me to do it! So if you know what's good for you you'll get rid of me since I'm clearly nothing but trouble anyway!"

"Daniel, I know you're scared but-" I began but he cut me off and yelled hysterically.

"But WHAT Vlad? What half-baked excuse are you going to feed me this time huh!? I told you to leave Dan alone and not get involved but you've been going behind my back to look for him haven't you? HAVEN'T YOU!?"

Running a hand through my hair, not caring if it became disheveled, I retorted, "What else do you expect me to do Daniel?! You never want to tell me anything and even when you do it's reluctantly, and yet we're BOTH on the same side now searching for a way to stop Dan! Yet I'M the only one here playing with half a deck! Even though we're here together in my castle and I've done everything in my power to put your mind at ease it's almost like we're both constantly walking on hot coals, waiting for the next incident to happen so we can repeat our little overly dramatic routine as usual! Well I for one am getting tired of this Daniel! I WANT answers...and if you refuse to give them to me then I have to continue searching for them on my own! I do this because you are WORTH the trouble!"

Getting back on his feet, Daniel glared at me and yelled, "Oh I bet you do! And I want answers too, fruitloop! But you have NO idea how powerful Dan is and I was trying to keep you AWAY from him until I figured something out or lead got my head above water. So tell me, if Skulker already called you before you left, then why was he at the castle? Why was he looking for you? It couldn't have been just to warn you! And what HAVE you been doing lately anyway huh? It's clearly not all business meetings like I assumed. Are you REALLY trying to figure out more about Dan? Or are you scheming something as usual?"

Narrowing my eyes at him, I challenged, "And what if I am? Does that automatically make me the bad guy again? If so, it doesn't take much does it...? Is wanting to figure out more about something or someone who is threatening you REALLY so bad here? Well? Is it?"

Looking conflicted, Daniel shook his head and replied, "No, but it's not your place Vlad. This is MY burden to bear, not yours. Saving me when I almost died when I was shot was enough. I can't expect anything more after that. I know that now. You should have realized by now that I want to deal with this by myself! I can't risk Dan using you against me too somehow like he is with the situation with my parents. That's why the less you know about him until I have a solid plan, the better."

A hollow laugh escaping my lips, I strode up to him to tower over Daniel, hands behind my back and replied with mock understanding, "Oh, I see. So THAT'S your master plan hmm? And tell me. Did you plan to deal with this whole incident by yourself since the start since you ran away from home? Like when you got shot by your parents for instance? Did you plan on taking care of yourself and nursing yourself back to full health in an abandoned building somewhere while BLEEDING OUT FROM AN INFECTED WOUND, MINUTES AWAY FROM DEATH?! Everything I've done up until now since I took you in, since I decided to stop being your enemy to help guide you out of this darkness and urge you surpass the limits you set on yourself, I've done it for YOU Daniel! And I did it without asking for much in return except that you TRUST ME with what it is that burdens you so! I didn't ask you to renounce your father, I didn't ask you to become my son, I asked you to trust me, just that, and STILL you refuse to do that completely no matter how hard I try to appease you! Really Daniel, sometimes you come across as a damned BRAT! So what will it take for you to finally realize I'm not the enemy here!?"

Daniel looked taken aback by my words, as if he hadn't seen them coming and opened his mouth to spout some other non-sense when instead, he curled his hands into fists and I half-expected him to rush to his feet and throw a punch at me when instead he said in a cold resolved tone, "Really? A brat huh? I see, so that's how you really feel after all. You know what? I think I've had enough of this..."

My heart seemed to stop when he uttered those words and my mouth went dry as I dared to ask, "What do you mean?"

"I was stupid to think coming here would change anything. Dan's still out there, and the people I thought I could count on have all deserted me. Well fine. If I'm gone, you won't have any reason to worry anymore will you? You'll be safer and happier with me out of your hair. You can go back to doing whatever the hell you want just like before, which is good since it obviously doesn't matter what I want. I wanted to keep you away from Dan, but you went after him anyway, not giving a damn whether or not I was ready to face him again! I probably never will be. But I'm not going to sit here anymore while you try to take my future and put it in your hands whether I want you to or not and bring my doom closer to me. No, I think I'll take my chances out there just like I planned, far away from all these ghosts, away from my family and friends so they'll be safe...and most importantly, away from you."

"You...want to leave?" I asked fearfully, not bothering to hide the fear in my voice.

"No," Daniel admitted, standing up and backing away from me again, his own voice filled with such unimaginable sorrow. "But you're not leaving me much of a choice..."

Heedless to his injuries or my own, I rushed towards him, closing the distance between us and enveloped Daniel in a tight hug, clinging to him desperately even when he cried out in pain when I jostled his bitten arm. _No! I refuse to let him treat me like the enemy again when I've been nothing but selfless when it comes to his well-being! I refuse to let something like this chase him away!_

"Daniel, please! You don't understand! The ONLY reason I'm doing any of this is for YOU! That Shade Striker wasn't my target, Dan was! I'm just so tired of seeing you continue to doubt yourself like this Daniel. Tired of listening to you tell me you're still so afraid of yourself and your powers when you have so much promise and I've seen you overcome impossible odds before, so I can't help but worry what makes this time so much different. And out of everyone else in your life I'm the only one who understands what you're going through. We may not have been the same age when we got our ghost powers, but the uncertainty you feel about your future, how you'll change and how others will see you after they take place, the truth is...I've felt every bit as afraid about that as you do now. I'd never admit it to anyone either. Anyone but you Daniel. I told you this before, I've shown you sides of myself I've never shown another living soul even before I lost my parents. The fact that I once put MY life in your hands is something that I would never have done if I did not have ABSOLUTE faith in the sort of person you are. You don't have to be afraid that I'll reject you because I KNOW the way you were acting when that Shade Striker attacked us was not the real you. At first I though you were finally taking the fight to your enemy instead of holding back and at first I was so proud of you for finally standing up for yourself again. Once I realized that you were going after it out of anger and pure spite though, I must admit that it frightened me. It frightened me because for the first time in my life, aside from when you nearly died in my arms two months ago, I felt helpless and I wasn't sure how to help you. I have all this power, this wealth, cunning, technology, yet none of it is helping me save you from this evil! And if this ghost is as dangerous as you say then I know my work is cut out for me and I have to take the threat he poses seriously because I'm the only one who stands a chance against him if you can't find your inner strength again. I want to protect you now with every fiber of my being because I can't lose you! Not you too! So go on! Despise me again if you want to but don't you DARE tell me I don't care about you or your feelings! I don't care if you hate me for doing what I feel is necessary for us to move forward. I don't care if you'll never be mine, the only thing I want Daniel...is for you to feel safe again and regain your confidence enough to be able to smile freely again. I want to get you out of danger for good by using any means necessary. This selfish need I have to keep you close to me where I can help you is all I can muster for myself anymore. And maybe you're right and it's stupid of me to think that even someone like me...can save someone and to dare think that I finally have someone in my life again who loves me back; someone who cares whether I live or die like I used to think Jack and Maddie did! But they don't. They almost wrote you off as dead too and that to me is absolutely appalling! You deserve all the love I have to give you, twisted as it is in your eyes. That's why, if what you said is true...that you wanted to keep me away from Dan so badly, is it because you're worried for my safety too? Is it because you don't believe in your own words about doubting my intentions and you're only trying to stop yourself from feeling disappointed again like you did when your parents rejected you?"

"...I...I don't know! I just don't know anymore!" Daniel howled, his defenses shattering and I felt his whole body go limp in my arms. "I can't trust what I think or feel anymore. I want to believe in you, in spite of everything...but I can't trust myself to make the right choices when all I seem to do lately is wrong. I'm falling apart Vlad. So no, I'm not afraid that you'll abandon me Vlad...I'm afraid you'll realize that I'M THE VILLAIN! I lie to everyone I care about, I even lie to myself and try to tell myself I'm not going to lose to Dan when I already have. I put everyone in danger just by EXISTING..." resting his head on my chest, he inhaled a long shaky breath and continued dejected, "Why was I even born, Vlad? What good does it do anyone when someone like him exists...because of me? No matter what I can't seem to erase or outrun my biggest mistake, one that I didn't even make in this timeline! And if...if you're going to such lengths and putting your life at risk when you still have so much to lose I don't want you to become one of them. I thought...if I could help you too by giving you a chance to be someone I can rely on, maybe I could still save myself. Maybe we'd stand a chance against Dan once I was ready. But not like this. I don't know what to do Vlad. I don't know what the right choice is anymore. Maybe I never stood a chance against fate. A fate that leads me back here, to you, and it's impossible to know whether or not that's a good thing for either of us..."

Hating hearing him say something so self-depreciating, I cradled the back of his head and told him earnestly, "Daniel, it doesn't matter why you were born, what matters is how you choose to live. Because I very much want you to live and grow up to be more than I ever was. And I'm so sorry this happened. I wasn't careful enough. Rest assured though Skulker WILL pay for attacking you, and you don't have to do anything. It was my choice not to tell him you were here and to leave you alone because we both know how obsessive he gets about hunting worthy prey. And to him, you are that and more. That's why I'll take responsibility for what happened with him and act accordingly. And since you did have every right to defend yourself which you did so you are not to blame for this. As for your power to create portals...well, I'd hoped to broach that subject when we began your advanced training but I saw you try to create one before on the security tapes back in my mansion in Amity Park. Much like how I can teleport, it looks like your exposure to a stable ghost portal made this possible and its due to the changes you're undergoing that you managed it, plus it looks like what I was teaching you about absorbing ambient ecto-energy tied into tearing open a portal into the Ghost Zone using a similar method so we'll need to rethink our lesson plan. That is...if you don't still intend on leaving me."

Daniel didn't answer right away and I couldn't blame him, we were both exhausted from fighting that creature and arguing so much so if nothing else the two of us needed some time to collect our thoughts. After all, the problem still remained that the Fright Knight was still missing and Skulker's so-called lead turned out to be a fluke, but more importantly this proved that Daniel may be onto something concerning Dan's hold over him. It WAS getting stronger and it didn't escape my notice when Daniel's eyes flashed red, mimicking those red eyes I saw when his own duplicate tried to strangle him...

While I couldn't just get rid of my portals, perhaps I could get Daniel away from it for awhile. And heavens knows we both needed a change of scenery since as I feared, personalizing Daniel's room and much of the castle did little to help get rid of the unpleasant memories attached to this place even though the castle itself was brand new. The same applies to me I suppose. I needed to show Daniel more of my human side, my human life.

But first I needed to know-

"Daniel? I know you've had a long day but we're both exhausted so can you promise me you won't do anything drastic? I know you don't want to leave anymore than I do so lets talk about this again after a good night's sleep. Hopefully then I can explain myself better because you're right, I have been looking for Dan because I'm worried about you Daniel, that's the only reason. I haven't been scheming anything else. But, if you want me to stop asking questions, I need more answers directly from you so I don't have to seek them elsewhere. Tell you what, if you promise not to leave, I promise I won't make any more trips into the Ghost Zone without telling you first. In fact-" pulling away and holding him at arm's length, I lifted his chin with one hand and assured him, "-I may have been looking at this all wrong. While Dan is an enemy we'll need to confront, your greatest weakness is how emotional you are right now, people are much easier to control when they're angry or upset. And clearly you haven't been able to completely let go of all the negativity you feel here so if you'll give me some time to think I'll figure out a way to bring you out in public without arising any suspicions on who you really are. Can you do that for me Daniel?"

"I guess..." he replied listlessly, only deepening my concerns until a yawn escaped his lips and I realized how much more exhausted Daniel must be after chasing that Shade Striker all over its island in the Ghost Zone. Not to mention how far Daniel must have flown looking for a way back to the castle so I wouldn't realize he was missing.


	59. Escape

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (12/05/2018):** Sorry this took so long guys, so much drama to deal with and a tiny bit of writers block. So to make up for that this chapter is a little longer than usual. Also, on a side note I guess there's some pretty weird stuff going down over on Tumblr that I don't really understand so it may or may not effect my DP profile there, just fyi. Lets hope it doesn't cause any major problems but if it does I may start posting my DP theories and such somewhere else, but at least I can always keep posting my fanart on my Deviantart account...

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Chapter 58: Escape

" _Desperation is the raw material of drastic change. Only those who can leave behind everything they have ever believed in can hope to escape. "_

 _ **~ William S. Burroughs**_

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Vlad's POV

After personally making sure Daniel made it safely to his room without incident, I made good on my promise to give Skulker a verbal lashing for acting against my wishes and demanded to know every detail about what happened. Skulker of course tried to play innocent and told me he assumed that Daniel was up to something or wanted to thwart my plans as usual so he took it upon himself to attack the intruder. Normally I would have at least given him that much credit but not this time. This time I was absolutely livid and had no choice but to tell Skulker that Daniel was under my protection now because an enemy far worse than even the Ghost King was after him. Someone that threatened both our worlds in an alternate timeline who was attempting to break free and take over ours.

I told Skulker nothing more after that but basically explained to him that if HE didn't want to be hunted down like a dog himself that he would dedicate his undivided attention to capturing that rare ghost creature, alive so to speak, and then perhaps then I'd forgive him for his serious lapse in judgment. Until then, I did NOT want to see him anywhere near the castle again without my permission and I would be re-enabling the ghost shield to repel his ghost signature again as an added precautionary measure to ensure he didn't get any funny ideas. And once Skulker found his voice again he asked what I planned to do about the Fright Knight to which I responded I would take care of it and that he had more important matters to attend to right now. That is, IF Skulker didn't want to be reduced to a lowly ghost blob again after I melted down his ecto-suit to make new hubcaps for one of my sports cars!

No sooner had I finished reminding Skulker what true fear was when my business phone rang and when I checked the caller ID it was a business client of mine that I'd been trying to convince to sell their company to me stationed overseas since they had some valuable resources and rare materials that were exceedingly difficult to come by here in the states. And if only because I managed to express some of my pent up frustration about this entire mess with Daniel by lashing out at Skulker I was able to address the caller quite calmly and professionally as per usual. And to my surprise, this time they seemed perfectly willing to close the deal at long last which pleased me of course but as expected there was a catch. I needed to close the deal with them in person and finalize the contract before they decided to sell out to a rival company, and while there wasn't a single company in the world that posed a real threat to any of my corporations, losing this one meant whoever bought them out from under me since I've been working on getting them to sell it to me first would certainly start getting greedy once they found out I had been in contact with them and would use that interest in what the company had to offer in order to increase their prices for the materials I needed to build some of my more advanced technology. Namely the type of unorthodox technology I usually built in places such as Axion Labs and or Vlad Co...

I hesitated slightly when they told me I was expected to appear at a dinner party being thrown at their estate to close the deal when it dawned on me that...yes, this could actually work in my favor in more ways than one! This company was one of many I had connections with over in Europe and Daniel has never been overseas before. In fact I highly doubt he's been brought out of state that often. But a trip to England, now THAT would be a rare treat for Daniel. Not to mention the fact that we would be going overseas where there was a considerably smaller risk of his true identity being discovered as opposed to trying to get away with bringing him out in public here. News travels fast, like wildfire and all it takes is a single spark and everything could go up in smoke even with all of my careful planning. This would still take some careful planning as well to pull off of course, but it would be a simple matter of forging the right travel papers, giving him a slight makeover, and obviously getting Daniel to even agree to this.

Remembering that I was still on the phone with my client I apologized for the momentary interruption and agreed to make the trip there to see them in person. However, once it was just me and the silence again I found myself worrying all over again if this would be enough to help Daniel finally escape from all of this madness for a short while or if he would only accuse me of not trusting him if I was forced to make him come with me since I was NOT leaving him here alone for an entire week. If I could not even do so for a DAY without something going horrifically wrong, how could I take such a huge risk for something that while usual was trivial compared to helping my little badger. True, I was at fault for most of these more recent developments, but Daniel knows he shouldn't have been wandering in the Ghost Zone like that. Even though he accidentally opened a portal there Daniel should have called me. Then again if I remember correctly...didn't the security tapes show me that his phone broke when Skulker shot him out of the sky and he crashed into the bleachers...?

 _Wonderful, I suppose now I'll have to get him a new one,_ I thought. _There's also the matter of getting him dressed up for the occasion since I can't very well bring him to a dinner part dressed like some common everyday adolescent..._

A warm smile unconsciously crept to my lips at the mere thought of spoiling Daniel properly for once outside of just buying things for him I thought he would like and having them sent here. No, this time we could go together to take care of this since this was one of the few people I trusted with my secret. Well, I say _'person'_ when really it was merely another ghost in disguise. But knowing Daniel I'm sure even he could see the merits in having a ghost tailor in your employ. Especially when it came to repairing something many would think at first glance was a Halloween costume.

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Danny's POV

You know that feeling you get when you're so tired and stressed out that all you want to do is hurry up and go to sleep, but you can't because there's too much on your mind? Well, that pretty much sums up how I feel right about now. My shoulders were sore and stiff too but my arm that stupid thing bit hurt especially bad and kept throbbing even after Vlad gave us both something to help with the pain. So yeah, good luck sleeping through your arm feeling like it has it's own heartbeat...

I just...I was so mad at Vlad for what happened but at the same time I knew he was right, and I didn't mean everything I said to him. I felt like I could still trust him and believed that there had to be an explanation about what he was doing in the Ghost Zone too when I only got there by accident. I guess for the most part I was still freaking out because of what Clockwork said and when I didn't feel like I could trust myself. As for right now, to be completely honest, aside from just being in pain I was scared of going to sleep tonight because I was dreading the fact that Dan might drag me kicking and screaming back into yet another nightmare and rub it in about how good it felt to overpower my enemy, how good it felt to let go and surrender to the rage I felt inside because of the injustice of it all.

But the scariest part was...he wasn't entirely wrong.

Still, when Clockwork basically told me I was on my own and that I was the only thing that stood between stopping Dan from making history repeat itself so to speak and that I was Vlad's only chance to avoid a future where he loses more than just his chance at winning my mom, his fortune, and me. But one where he loses his place in the world entirely as both human and half-ghost and my dad leaves him stranded in space. And as much as I loved space, leaving Vlad stranded out there seemed like the ultimate form of abandonment. Of rejection. Sure, Vlad has made a lot of crappy decisions in his life, but from what I saw this one takes the cake and not even my dad could find it in himself to forgive his old college friend.

It'd be one thing if this was one of Vlad's usual lame schemes, but he went way too far and basically dug his own grave. And the sad part is...I was part of the reason he went over the deep end from what I could tell. The look on my face as we fought in Clockwork's time portals, it was cold, and hard as if I was just so done with all his crap. I mean, I don't know what happened exactly since Clockwork only showed me glimpses aside from the major stuff at the end, but it was worse than it'd ever been between me and Vlad and I really didn't want to go back to that...

It wasn't until I actually outright said it aloud that I realized that I meant it when I said wanted to stay. Crazy right? You know, given what a creeper Vlad used to be. But then I remember how worried I was about the possibility of Vlad kicking me out before, how tightly he held onto me earlier and how warm it felt now, comforting despite my gut reaction to reject it and not believe a word he said, and most of all I remember how freaked out Vlad was when I told him I thought I should leave and he looked so helpless and desperate that it made me doubt my feeling about him again. I don't know why I felt so surprised though when this wasn't the first time Vlad practically begged me to trust him enough to let him help.

I thought for sure Vlad would get sick of my crap and say something like _'oh, you want to leave hmm? Well there's the door. And don't come crying to me when you wake up and realize how utterly useless and pathetic you are out there on your own.'_ I don't know when it happened, but as the days went by I started to get used to living here and spending time with Vlad, but at the same time he was still such a stranger to me. I only knew one side of him, the side we shared because of my parents and how we're both half-ghost. But even then, I probably knew more about Vlad then my own parents at this point, at least when it came to his family background.

My problem was...I wasn't even sure who I was anymore. Was there anyone I could trust? Could I still trust Clockwork even though he wasn't going to help me stop Dan if something bad happened again? At least not directly? I felt like he still cared about me and wasn't happy about any of this but Clockwork said he trusted me so, was it so bad to hope that maybe he just wanted me to make my own decisions and would help despite saying he wasn't going to? And what about Vlad? Was Vlad really still walking on thin ice too, on the verge of slipping back into his own destructive habits even if they weren't quite as literal as my own? Is it true that I was just making up excuses just like they both said out of fear of being let down again? Probably. Putting all that aside though I knew one thing for sure...

Vlad wasn't the villain anymore, he told me why he was in the Ghost Zone and this time I believe him. I still believe IN him. And if nothing else, Vlad wasn't about to let me destroy myself whether it was Dan's fault for pushing me over the edge or this whole situation. He said I was worth the trouble. I was still WORTH something to him and I needed that. I needed someone who still wanted me around, who needed me, and as messed up as it might seem I felt so happy when he didn't say those things I was afraid he would. Vlad didn't give up on me, not like my parents were bound to if things began looking hopeless like they did the day I fled from them.

I was here now, away from at least some of my problems, and Vlad wasn't the same guy he was before. Vlad's changing and showing me who he really was underneath it all to prove that he cares. Clockwork was right about that at least. Vlad has proven himself to me and to himself in a lot of ways that I'm not just some fixated obsession of his like my mom was, I was someone he was willing to stick his neck out for and that's something I never would have dreamed Vlad was capable of mostly because I'd given up on him after awhile and just wanted him to leave me alone, so now that it was almost like I actually DID need him it was scary. I wasn't used to asking anyone for help since my pleas usually went unheard anyway, but now it's like part of me was screaming and somehow Vlad understood that and was actually doing something about it. I was afraid of becoming like Dan, so Vlad went searching for him; I lost my home and a place to live, he gave me my own room built specifically for me; I got hurt, and Vlad treated my wounds before his own and I didn't have to suffer in silence anymore. How could I take all that for granted?

Making a decision, I sat up and climbed out of bed and put one foot in front of the other as I made my way to Vlad's bedroom to apologize. It was late and I bet he was exhausted from chasing that thing he thought was Dan for how knows how long and on top of that getting injured too. In fact, bringing that to mind made me hesitate just as I was about to knock on his door and I just...stood there, unable to move or pull my hand away. After awhile I let my hand drop and sighed, turning around and sitting on the floor, staring at the door and wondering why I couldn't have waited til morning at least. But by then I might have lost my nerve entirely. So, since I couldn't sleep anyway, I sat there, my eyes staring unfocused at the ornate bedroom door, wondering how to apologize to someone who was once my greatest enemy that was now the only person I had left besides Jazz that really understood me...

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Vlad's POV

Feeling satisfied with the progress I made with the preparations for the trip since I was almost certain I could convince Daniel to come with me, I slowly made my way to his room from my office until a dull throb in my leg reminded me that he was injured far worse than I was by the Shade Striker and needed more time to recuperate. So instead I made my way to the master bedroom, my footsteps calm and assured when I notice a shape on the floor and peered through the darkness only to find Daniel sitting there with his arms resting on his knees staring at my door hard enough to burn a hole through it. Well, in his case freeze it but that was besides the point. Why was Daniel just sitting there like that? Did he have another nightmare and came to me seeking comfort or...was Daniel here hoping to avoid having one despite our argument earlier...?

Either way Daniel was so fixated on the door that it was disturbingly easy to make his way closer without him noticing me and I was able to get a closer look at his facial expression. At first, from a distance and since it was so dark Daniel looked like he was glaring angrily at it but now, it was more like his old stubborn determination. But determination for what? Daniel didn't seem angry anymore but that didn't mean he wasn't. Or perhaps Daniel wanted to-

"What am I even doing here? If he finds me sitting outside his room like this waiting for him Vlad's going to call ME a crazy fruitloop," Daniel sighed, his eyes dropping to the floor and his shoulders sagging. "I don't even know how to tell him I'm..."

Sitting on the floor next to Daniel as he trailed off, I leaned my head against the wall and told him, "For what it's worth, I am sorry too little badger, about what happened with Skulker and what I said. I don't believe either of us really meant anything by it."

Not even surprised by my sudden appearance as he usually might have been or maybe he noticed me when I closed the distance between us and didn't say anything which is why he trailed off, Daniel turned his slightly to face away from me and muttered, "...I'm sorry."

"It was bound to happen eventually," I sighed, turning my head to down look at him and resting a hand on his head, "These past few weeks have been rather tense so it was only a matter of time before one or both of us snapped and said something we regret. Even I'm not immune to it and you've been through a lot of life changes and I suppose I was foolish to think that just getting you out of Amity Park would be enough to solve your problem, because I realize it runs much deeper than that. I've been so worried about your health that I...well, I forgot to take into account that your heart is hurting just as much if not more. That's why we have to learn how to live together, not just tolerate each other or simply occupy the same place. Daniel, I want you to talk to me and be frank with me. I told you this once before, you don't have to hide who you are anymore or put up a front to please anyone else, not even me. I want to know you, Daniel, just as much as I want you to understand me. And since we're being so frank with each other, as you are well aware of I'm not exactly used to being considerate of anyone else, so I suppose when it comes to you I either overcompensate or I don't pay enough attention to what's happening and take matters into my own hands because I want to give you your space, forgetting that your parents did much the same thing. They were so focused on their work they didn't listen to you, or when they finally noticed you they felt they had to make you do something to feel included or punished you over something so trivial as being late when they should be happy that you've come home safely with how dangerous Amity Park is now even if you had been a normal teenage boy. But you're not. And sometimes I tend to forget how young and impressionable you are simply because you're always so stubborn and care too much about other people that you throw yourself away like you're nothing. I refuse to let that continue...and so, I will show you your worth."

"My worth huh? Right..." he smiled sadly, still refusing to look at me. "I guess you really must be as crazy as I always believed you were because I don't know what you could possibly see in a _'brat'_ like me. And after all this time since we first met I realized I don't know who you are either Vlad. I don't know why staying here with you still matters when all I seem to do is cause problems. It's always been like this and I don't...I don't know how to fix it Vlad! There's no one I have to beat up or capture in the Fenton Thermos, it's just me struggling to figure out the difference between what the right thing to do is and when I need to suck it up again and admit I need help. Because you're right, I do. I do need help but I-" clenching his eyes shut, Daniel's voice raised to the point of nearly yelling and he said, "I keep asking myself why you care about me so much, Vlad. I mean I didn't do anything special to make you suddenly like me now. So just how're you going to show me how much I'm worth to you when I don't even know anymore...?! When I feel like I'm no good to anyone?"

"Simple," I smiled mischievously, removing my hand from his head after giving it a small pat. "Or, perhaps not, because putting into words the reason why I do what I have done for you isn't quite so easy. After all, words can only convey so much. So for now I want to show you what I mean, and by the end hopefully you'll understand how much you mean to me, or maybe then I'll find the right words at last that will make you see exactly why I am fighting for you and care for you so much." I paused before starting again and continued, "You see Daniel, I received a call earlier from an actual business client of mine who has invited me to a dinner party in England so that I can close a deal to buy his company and it just so happens that he suggested I bring a guest with me. And whoever said guest is will be treated like royalty as befitting an associate of Vlad Masters. Of course, I've been meaning to do this for awhile and get you fitted for some new clothes and a new suit but a trip overseas would prove to be an ample excuse to spoil you a bit. We'll need to keep on our toes of course since there's still a small chance of our ruse being discovered, but once my business there is done we'll be free to enjoy ourselves and see the sights..."

Daniel seemed to not hear me initially and gave me a blank stare before he gave his head a quick shake and sputtered, "What? I'm sorry. Did you just seriously offer to take me on a trip to England?" Finding his bashful reaction adorable, I nodded. "I'm still having trouble processing this. Weren't we just in the middle of a serious conversation? And how the heck did it go from, _'I'm sorry about what I said'_ , to, _'Hey, let's forget all that and take a trip to golly old ENGLAND!'_ Seriously, even you HAVE to see how jarring this subject change is, Vlad..."

Letting a low rumble of a chuckle escape my lips, I told him, "Of course I do my boy. I'm a businessman, part of my job is making offers that often catch my opponent, a business rival, or a client off-guard. I mean it though, we both desperately need a retreat from the mundane routine we have both slumped into, and while this is a business trip first, it will become a much MUCH needed vacation once that is all over and done with. To be honest I haven't really taken a proper vacation in years. And you? I'm sure any notion of a true vacation has constantly eluded you. Knowing your parents as I do they still treated it as an excuse to hunt ghosts." I paused for a moment to ponder something quickly, and Daniel's expression showed me that he guessed I was remembering something about his parents. And he wasn't too far from the truth either. I was thinking about a time when we went on a camping trip and while I tried to figure out a way to speak with Maddie alone for a bit, when the two of them heard about an abandoned house nearby they insisted we go there to see if it was haunted so they could test the prototype of one of their earliest ecto-guns.

"Uh, Vlad?" Daniel suddenly chimed in when I found myself lost in my memories of that night when instead of roasting smores we spent the entire night chasing a raccoon Jack swore was a ghost because it's eyes were glowing when that was only because of our flashlights reflecting it its eyes.

"Hm? Oh!", I coughed, feeling a tad embarrassed and then I recomposed myself, "Forgive me, I got a little lost in thought. Anyway, I doubt you've ever been overseas so this should be a good opportunity to take in some of their most famous sites, enjoy the local food," Vlad smiled and leaned in, "Maybe even meet some local girls too?" Danny blushed at the mention of which got a hearty laugh out of me. "Joking my boy! We'll take in the sights, and that is it! I promise. So what do you say?"

"Are you sure I won't just embarrass you?" Daniel asked sheepishly.

I suppose I was being a little overly dramatic, but when I looked into his eyes there was this mixture of fear and hopefulness that made me think Daniel did want to go so I chuckled and pointed it out, "Sorry, I know did get a little carried away teasing you my boy, but of course you won't embarrass me. And that didn't sound like a _'no'_ to me so what's your answer, Daniel? What do you want to do?"

"I..." at first Daniel seemed hesitant, but after looking into my eyes he sighed and replied with a small smile, "Fine, if you think we can pull this off then I'm game. Besides, you said I need to start trusting you more so let's see what you're made of Vlad Masters, and if we can really fool anyone into thinking I'm anyone worth your time."

Laughing, I smirked with an adventurous glint in my eyes and nodded, "Challenge accepted little badger. Now off to bed with you, we have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow if we want to get you ready in time."

"Ready for what?" Daniel blinked, tilting his head slightly.

Frowning slightly I responded, "Ready to confront an enemy far more terrifying than anyone you'll likely ever face. Aristocrats..."


	60. Going Out In Style

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (12/29/2018):** Sorry this next update took so long, been really busy trying to get things ready to move out, including myself, and there's still a ton to do. Not to mention my net was down. I know it's super late, but as my belated Christmas gift to you here's a new chapter preceding Vlad and Danny's vacation before things start ramping up once again since we're nearing the end. Slight spoiler but yeah you all know Dan's coming at some point I'm just not telling exactly when or how! Anyways have a wonderful holiday everyone!

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Chapter 59: Going Out In Style

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Danny's POV

If there's one thing Vlad's good at, it's throwing me for a loop. Makes sense when you think about it since he's such a fruit-loop. Anyways, just when I start figuring the guy out he surprises me, which yeah I guess that is the whole point of his weirdness. In general though I kinda had mixed feelings about all this, but for some reason I was still excited to get out of here for awhile even though I obviously had other things to worry about...

Big things.

True to his word though Vlad started paying more attention to me, but definitely not in that creepy always-hovering-over-your-shoulder way. At least that part of our routine didn't change unless Vlad had actual important business to attend to or he was busy getting things ready for this trip of ours. Vlad even invited me to shadow him while he was working one day which I thought would be boring but compared to what my parents did, anything even remotely normal could seem oddly fascinating sometimes. Then again, being rich and being _'normal'_ were two entirely different things if Sam has taught me anything.

We were both all healed up too which helped a lot at least as far as the doom and gloom feeling is concerned since being in pain doesn't help make it go away. And once his leg was better I felt relieved and didn't feel as guilty about him getting hurt, not to mention my arm wasn't throbbing anymore either so it was a little easier to get to sleep at night when I wasn't dealing with another nightmare. Of course, Vlad decided we'd keep weight training so I wouldn't lose all the progress we made, but at the end of each session we would go out back to expel some of my built up ecto-energy, the normal and the ice kind, by shooting targets since we didn't want to risk using my ghost powers again for anything else just yet until we dealt with the whole Dan situation. Vlad and I even made a game of it, as in whoever took out the most targets within a certain time limit won. I'll admit, I kind of miss competing with Vlad toe to toe sometimes in a fight but now that we weren't enemies I couldn't imagine hitting him in the face even during a mock battle.

On the downside though, while I wasn't hurt anymore my nightmares were getting worse and so was that _'pull'_ in the back of my mind that we both knew now had nothing to do with me being low on ghost energy. I was doing better at not freaking out as much when I had a bad dream since I knew that it wasn't real and it was Dan pushing my buttons, but most of the time I still woke up feeling unnerved by what I'd seen or _'remembered...'_

Stupid Dan, he knows exactly how to get under my skin and I hate it. There isn't anything Vlad can do to stop it either. He tried to though and even made a few suggestions on ways to take my mind off things and take back control over my dreams. When those didn't work, all Vlad could do was tell me he was worried about me and he tried to keep my spirits up by asking me what I wanted to do during our visit to England. But how was I supposed to know that? I didn't even know what city we were going to or how I was supposed to act so that got me all worked up one night over dinner when I started wonder about _'proper etiquette.'_

And that's when Vlad told me, "Daniel, if you're that worried I won't force you to attend the dinner party with me. I still haven't decided if we'll be staying at the villa or a hotel but in either case, at least while we're overseas it should be safe for you to spend some time alone for the duration of the dinner if you decide it's too much to handle. Of course I'll still have to have someone take care of you in the meantime just to be safe. I'll let you decide who you feel safer with. I do have human bodyguards too after all Daniel. In fact they're the ones that will be escorting me inside the building where the dinner is being held. If you do decide to come with me as long as we're escorted inside separately no one will know that you're my guest until I outright say you're there with me. In the meantime I already have your cover story all taken care of so you have nothing to worry about as long as you don't tell them your last name and keep your wits about you. Trust me my boy, these people are called silver-tongued for a reason."

"Well yeah, when everything you bite into is silver, they kinda can't help it," I snickered and Vlad just rolled his eyes.

"Good to see your sense of humor has returned," Vlad chuckled before looking directly at me again and continuing in all seriousness, "In any case, the dinner is the only formality I have to take care of then we may do as we please. Attending such an event is nothing new for me, but even though it's important for my business, first and foremost I want you to have a good time. So what I'm saying is that it's up to you if you're ready to face the public again and I'll respect your decision. If you do decide to come with me to the dinner party no one will know who you are except for me, meaning you won't have to hide as much. In their eyes your parents don't even exist because they're only 2nd class citizens and no one there would have heard of Fenton Works since it's a private family run business in a small town. But at the same time we do still need to be careful. Unlike your parents my fame on the other hand is worldwide, so if the wrong people get their hands on any information about you and realize I'm harboring a runaway, well, lets just say your parents aren't THAT blind not to mention the legal ramifications. Understand this Daniel," he explained, resting a hand on my forearm, "While the goal here is to test your theory about the vicinity to an active ghost portal being part of the problem that allows Dan to influence you I'm still taking a risk here. I have a private investigator _'looking'_ for you, but until you are ready to be found I don't want anyone else finding out you're with me. Because believe me, they WILL exploit it. After all, I do have many enemies, they're just not the kind you're used to. As I told you before I've never had to worry about how my behavior effects anyone else so if you do this, you'll need to trust me and believe in yourself because they will use any weakness they see against you to get to me, or they will trick you to get into my good graces. Such is the way of things among the successful and wealthy."

"Gee, that sounds like LOADS of fun," I groaned, standing up to pace the room a bit. "Look, are you sure this is such a good idea Vlad...? I can't help but feel like you're forcing yourself to go through all this trouble for no reason just to include me."

"On the contrary I think this is a splendid idea," Vlad replied, point blank. "Daniel, I know this all sounds like a hassle, but rest assured I am not trying to convince you to avoid attending this event with me by warning you about these things. I simply want you to be aware of your surroundings and use those sharp wits of yours to avoid unwanted attention. Aside from that I have every confidence in you my boy. You are capable of things most can only dream of so you have nothing to fear from these people. They are after all only human and we're something much more than that whether we want to be or not. That's all I'm saying. That and truth be told I DO want you there since at least with you around my life is that much more exciting."

Relaxing a bit I smiled and took a deep breath, "Ok, that makes more sense. The way you were talking made it sound like you were throwing me to the wolves. Well, that and it's just been awhile since I've been around anyone besides you and have to hide my ghost powers. Heck, I've even started to miss going to school if you can believe that!"

Sensing my need for a slight topic change, Vlad smiled too and told me, "I do believe that actually. You are an intelligent boy Daniel with a lot of promise. All you need is the confidence and tools to succeed and I'm certain you will excel. At one point I even arranged for a private tutor to start helping you with your studies, but given the situation right now perhaps we should wait until after the trip to sort that out along with the rest. Now then-" clapping his hands together, Vlad's smile widened and he asked me, "-tell me Daniel, what is your favorite color?"

I blinked then answered with a grin of my own, "Well that came out of the blue; which is my favorite color by the way. Why do you ask?"

Groaning a bit at my obvious joke Vlad replied, "Because my boy, while I was going to wait until tomorrow morning to tell you this we're going to visit my personal tailor tomorrow to have you fitted for a new suit and suggestions on some new clothes that compliment your looks better. I've been meaning to do this for awhile now but the timing just never seemed appropriate. Besides, in my opinion every respectable young man should have at least one suit in their wardrobe that actually fits them properly unlike the one you wore the day we met which I'm assuming belonged to your father before he, eh-hem, grew out of it..."

Stifling a laugh, I snickered, "Yeah, the funny thing is my dad was only twelve when he wore that one. No idea how he managed to keep it around that long either. It's really annoying but since I've always been small for my age for some reason my dad just never went with me to get a new one. He usually only wears a tie with his hazmat suit anyways and my mom's the same way. You rarely ever see them in anything else. I can only hope that doesn't last forever. Being small for my age. Then again I don't want to end up as bulky as-" my mind flashing to how tall and muscular Dan was, I suddenly clammed up and my face went pale while I kept trying not to think about if I was going to be anything like him or my dad when I grew up. It was too painful to think about. Terrifying too since it was another thing that was out of my control, how I'd look when I grew up.

"Daniel? Is something wrong?" Vlad asked worriedly. "You look pale."

Shaking my head I lied, "It's nothing, I just...really miss him. Sure my dad was a goof and he made a lot of mistakes, but he's still my dad. I know you wanted to be a dad and you said you care about me like I'm just that even though I'm not so it feels weird to bring it up at all. Anyway I uh, think I'm going to head to bed! Oh, but do I need to be up at the usual time or should I set an alarm?"

Vlad didn't answer my question right away and he gave me a suspicious look before leaving the table too and casually telling me to wake up a little early since it was going to be a long drive to this place. He did warn me ahead of time that this tailor of his was a ghost so I wouldn't freak out or anything, but I was more surprised than anything when he told me. I mean a ghost tailor? Well I suppose if there's a Box Ghost and a Lunch Lady, why not a Terror-ble Tailor...?

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Vlad's POV

Daniel is such a terrible liar, but after seeing that look on his face I didn't want to press the issue when he froze up while we were talking about his father's rather large girth compared to his slightly less than average one. There could be a number of reasons why Daniel reacted that way too. Maybe he felt self-conscious about being a fifteen year old boy who looked much younger than he actually was although really Daniel is making great progress and is finally starting to look more his age now compared to when I first met him. Or maybe Daniel was feeling homesick and he didn't want to admit it because he was trying to be considerate of my feelings since I still couldn't help but think of Daniel as my son when I was taking care of him to such an extent. In some respects Daniel was still too kind-hearted for his own good, however, having any of that kindness and consideration directed towards me was a sign of progress with how close we were becoming.

I could only imagine how dashing the two of us would look together since I was planning on wearing something a little different for this party as well which made me smile. That and it was a relief to see Daniel making jokes again, albeit some of them a bit forced. Either way I had a feeling just getting Daniel away from the castle for a few hours would help improve his mood greatly, especially since while Daniel didn't outright admit it I saw the way his eyes lit up when I told him we were going to England. While it's true that I'm used to such events part of me still hoped Daniel would decide to come with me instead of stay behind at the villa or hotel.

I also told him that this wasn't the sort of dinner party where everyone sat at a table so his manners would be the least of my worries. To put it simply, it was more like a high class buffet where you simply let the servers give you want you want to eat and you don't serve yourself. I also had a private room arranged to dine in as usual since everyone knew I preferred to enjoy my food without an audience whenever possible, therefore, so long as Daniel was there before me there should be ample time to greet the other guests and then excuse myself to join him there. My client wanted to see me before the main event anyway to close the deal and make a formal announcement the day of the dinner party, meaning Daniel didn't have to sit around waiting for me to take care of the business side of things...

Daniel was clearly skeptical about my motives and how this trip was going to turn out, but unlike most of the unfortunate mishaps lately at least this was something I could control. There was some risk involved yes, however the reward would be well worth it. If I could just help Daniel to escape this forlorn shadow hanging over him then I could safely say I accomplished one my goals on his behalf. It wouldn't solve all of our problems, but ultimately it would also give us both the chance to take a step back and reevaluate our options moving forward.

I should have known that the majority of Daniel's problems were deeply psychological thanks to the emotional and physical trauma he's endured the last few months and addressed those first before anything else. Even the strongest steel of a sword can snap if not tempered properly and allowed to bend to absorb the shock; and Daniel is usually as steadfast and strong as they come. The problem is, for some reason Daniel is afraid of showing any signs of weakness to the point that his resolve has begun to visibly crack and now it's almost as if he's afraid to become stronger too because of the increased chances of him failing to prove himself. That's why I had to do something quickly before Daniel's confidence shattered completely and the damage was irreversible.

The first step was choosing my battles more wisely from now on. Thus my first order of business was to be more considerate of Daniel's feelings. I needed to constantly remind him that this trip was more for his sake than mine; the party was just one reason we were going to Europe together. Not saying I wasn't looking forward to closing this deal, but Daniel's happiness mattered more to me then increasing my influence in the business world. Also, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to spending some quality time with my little badger and showing him one of the perks of being associated with the richest man in the world, such as being free to visit any country in the world. And one day perhaps I could even bring him with me to explore the very stars he was always reaching for.

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Danny's POV

It wasn't like I wasn't already used to all the cloak and dagger stuff, but it still felt weird having to follow Vlad invisibly after the limo ride to this fancy building in town where his ghost tailor was waiting for us. I half expected them to live somewhere in the Ghost Zone at first until Vlad explained that this ghost has been around a very long time and they even had a human disguise, which allowed them to design fashionable clothes worn by humans and ghosts alike. I didn't bother asking who they were known as here on this side of things because I obviously don't pay attention to things like that; Jazz doesn't either since she's much more interested in keeping in the know about the latest women geniuses as opposed to the latest fashion models...

Another thing that surprised me was how close their studio was since I thought for sure Vlad would have a private tailor from somewhere more exotic like France or something. I wasn't too far off though since Vlad told me this ghost was originally from Russia. Now I really didn't know what to expect! And I couldn't help but notice how Vlad was trying very hard not to smile when I glanced over at him before he stepped into an elevator and I phased inside too. He was up to something, I could tell. Vlad didn't even try to hide and that got me curious so I didn't say anything and just waited for Vlad to show me instead.

Once the doors shut behind us, Vlad pressed an unmarked button at the very bottom this fancy touch pad panel and said, "You can show yourself now Daniel. No one will disturb us once we reach the top floor. Only authorized personal are allowed up there, and since she and I go way back I am allowed free access. I already told her you were coming and that it's alright for her to drop her human disguise. If it make you uncomfortable though she doesn't mind changing back. After all she works with clients from both worlds all the time so it makes no difference."

Rolling my eyes just before becoming visible again, I scoffed, "Dude, I've seen so many ghosts at this point it doesn't surprise me anymore what they look like. As long as she's not some Medusa-like ghost or something that can turn me to stone with a hard glare I don't care what she looks like. Whatever makes her comfortable is fine with me. At this point I just hope that she isn't like most of your other _'friends'_ that's all. The last thing I want is to have to defend myself against a crazy ghost seamstress who sees me as some sort of prize too and wants to sew my mouth shut and trap my soul in a voodoo doll to add to some freaky collection. I had a dream about that last night which was weird considering most of my other dreams have been about you-know-who, but then again I'm probably just overthinking things. This won't take long will it...?"

Stunned by my honesty, Vlad cleared his throat and explained, "Goodness Daniel, you have certainly developed quite the morbid imagination, but to answer your question no, this shouldn't take long. Especially since she doesn't have to keep up appearances. This should go much faster than usual in fact given that she can freely use her ghost powers around you. All she has to do is measure you again herself and then she'll design a suit for you that fits and can be adjusted as you grow. I decided to have a new one made as well for this event since I normally only wear my usual black one in public. I thought it would be a good idea for us to- Ah, here we are."

Cutting himself off as the elevator doors opened for us, Vlad took a few steps forward and waited until I was out too before heading to the door at the end of a narrow hallway lined with pictures of all sorts of different fashion models and famous people that I'm assuming were wearing outfits made by this ghost designer. To be perfectly honest it was hard to wrap my head around there being ghosts who have lived in our world longer then there have been any stable ghost portals. Vlad said she's been around for a long time, but how long was that? Twenty years? Fifty? Maybe even a hundred or more? Did he bring her here from the Ghost Zone himself on purpose and they made some kind of deal? Or did she come here through a natural portal and decided to stick around for good? What was she like? And how did she even meet someone like Vlad if all she did was design fashion...?

All of these questions were burning the tip of my tongue during the drive over but now that we were here I didn't want to be too nosy. Then again I seriously hoped that this ghost lady wasn't someone creepy I had to look out for, or someone that might stab me with a needle on purpose because they didn't like me or knew I used to be Vlad's enemy. Either way I couldn't help but feel nervous once we actually got there and my ghost sense went off.

Without sparing me a glance when it happened, Vlad opened the door and nodded for me to go in first. I swallowed but did what he wanted and blinked when I saw the whole set up. There was a large platform on the far side of the room surrounded by mirrors everywhere but the front of it with at least three expensive looking velvet lounge chairs where you could sit and talk while the other person was being fitted for some fancy outfit. On both sides of the platform were two long racks filled with at least two dozen pre-made suits, vests, pants, shirts, and so on already hung up and ironed so there wasn't a single wrinkle on anything. Next to one of the racks was a walk in closet, its shelves filled with neatly folded fabric available in almost every color imaginable, three mannequins next to the shelves, and finally a normal looking work table and a desk both covered with organized piles of sewing supplies.

I was so busy taking it all in that I hardly noticed my ghost sense go off a second time when the ghost lady Vlad told me about announced herself with a light chuckle -her voice ringing with a slight Russian accent- and she asked him, "Vladimir my dear, is this your latest protege? I must say he's younger than I expected..."

"You say that as if I've had one before," Vlad replied with the same warm tone which really surprised me, well that and the fact that she called Vlad by his full name so casually like they were already old friends.

When I finally dragged my eyes away from the platform and spotted her, I was surprised with how much she reminded me of Vlad when he was in his ghost form for some reason. She had a long thin face and her skin was this kind of steel-gray color with a pair of solid purple eyes that were looking at me thoughtfully, long pointed ears just like Vlad's, sleek raven black hair that was tied into a loose bun at the nape of her neck, and finally she was wearing a long wine-red turtleneck with a chain belt around her waist, dark gray leggings, and a pair of black high-heeled boots; Not that she needed the heels anyway since she was already tall and thin enough to pass for a model herself if she wanted to. I think Sam would say she had a _'willowy figure'_ like most models and she almost seemed to glide as she walked towards us. For all I knew this lady WAS gliding since her movements were so eerily graceful and silent it was kind of unnerving and I couldn't stop my shoulder muscles from getting tense.

Noticing my apprehension despite the tough act I put on before, Vlad took me by the shoulders and calmly introduced me to her, "Where are my manners? Daniel, this is the late lady Evelina Petrov, a Russian noblewoman from the seventeen hundreds I believe. She has many aliases nowadays of course that I could tell you, but since you wouldn't have a clue who any of those were she agreed to allow me tell you her real name. And this, my lady, is Daniel James Fenton, the one I told you about who is the son of my former best friend Jack Fenton when I was a freshman in college."

Nodding, Evelina gave me a quick once over and commented almost to herself, "Ah yes, I do recall that my dear Vladimir used to complain about this _'Jack'_ quite often until he discovered his son was also a halfa like himself. Ever since then he's always spoken very highly of this other fledgling hybrid so I've been eagerly awaiting the day our paths might cross in a civil manner, although I must say I expected someone older. Yet the way this young man carries himself gives him a certain air of...one who has seen too much heartache and feels as though he carries the weight of it like chains keeping him bound to his fate. Or is it just that you are feeling nervous my child? Rest assured no harm will come to you here. I seek only to bring a sense of undying beauty back to the world, there is no other reason for me to linger among the living apart from that."

"Nervous? Not really...I just wasn't sure what to expect when Vlad told me you were a ghost..." I replied sheepishly, wishing Vlad would let go of me since it felt like both of them had me cornered.

Smiling softly, she mused thoughtfully, "I wasn't sure what to expect either my dear but I want you to feel comfortable while we're working together to make you a suit worthy of you so I will do whatever it takes to make you feel more at ease, otherwise getting your measurements correctly will be difficult. And that just won't do! We want you to look your best after all once we're done here today so I know just what to do!"

Switching from being soft-spoken to very determined and someone used to being in charge, after clapping her hands together off to the side of her head at the palm of her wrist, she created several duplicates and after giving them strict instructions in what I assumed was Russian, one of them brought a tea tray for Vlad while the other asked me what sort of refreshments I wanted before we began the fitting. Without thinking I asked the duplicate for a Coke and the duplicate nodded then flew off to get it while the original guided me to one of the lounge chairs in front of the platform and sat me down in the one next to where Vlad was sitting, already settled in like he was used to this from her. That's when I realized she was trying to make me feel more relaxed before we started which I was grateful for. To be honest I was more overwhelmed then anything by being the center of attention of someone clearly well known and respected if Vlad was this calm around her...

Once I was settled in with a crystal glass of ice cold Coke in my hands, Evelina transformed into her human disguise as an added measure to make herself seem less formidable to me which helped a lot actually. She still had jet black hair but her skin was fair and her eyes were light blue. Once she was in her human form she automatically began pulling out cloth samples for us to look at to help us decide which fabric felt the most comfortable and what shade of blue would look best on me. She seemed very passionate about it and thanks to her human appearance it was much easier to think of this as a normal fitting for the most part. Well, normal aside from the fact that she wasn't holding any of the samples herself and she kept flying them over to us while encasing them in ecto-energy and using her ghost powers.

I let Vlad take care of most of the details since I didn't know the first thing about getting fitted for a suit since my dad has never done anything like that with me before but I did help pick out a fabric that felt comfortable enough to wear for any length of time since I wasn't sure how long the party would last. And if I _did_ decide to wear it to the dinner party then who knows how long I'd be stuck wearing it, and unlike Vlad I wasn't used to wearing a suit that much outside of special events.

Having Vlad there helped a lot more then expected since he knew what he was talking about and how to handle all this, so before long his calm demeanor started to rub off on me and I finally felt ready to get this over with. Evelina did everything she could to help me unwind and used her powers at a minimum once she actually began sewing the suit together and making adjustments. Eventually, my suit was done and it was Vlad's turn since he decided to wait until I was done so he wouldn't have to go to another room to be fitted...

It was weird seeing Vlad act so much more mature then me and like he'd done this a million times, which granted he probably had, and Evelina didn't even need to measure him before selecting the best style for him after Vlad gave her a basic idea of what he wanted. As it turns out Vlad decided to have a dark red suit made to contrast my blue one and instead of his usual bow tie he decided to wear a classic silk tie with the new sui, mine didn't have a tie at all which was really nice since I didn't want to keep pulling at it like it was a noose during the dinner party.

That's when it suddenly occurred to me that maybe this WAS a trap so to speak and Vlad was counting on the fact that I'd feel guilty not going to the dinner party since his private tailor put so much work into both of these and it'd be rude not to. That sly fox! Well, he wasn't wrong there. I did feel kinda guilty about still being on the fence about the whole idea of going out in public with him -even in another country- because compared to him I would definitely stuck out like a sore thumb at this party.

Even when we were only having these suits made I felt so...out of place next to him. I felt like I didn't belong somewhere this fancy and this was only a famous designers private office! Going to such a glitzy party in England was going to be a whole different story. And if I couldn't stop myself from being nervous around a ghost that as far as I could tell was actually really nice, how was I supposed to handle a bunch of rich people who would be watching my every move like hyena's laughing at me while they tear my confidence to shreds...?


	61. The Guest Of Honor

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 60: The Guest Of Honor

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Danny's POV

 _I guess it's a little too late for second thoughts_ , I thought nervously once we began the long drive out to Winchester where the dinner party was being held.

The flight to London went smoothly since we took Vlad's private jet again. I didn't have to worry about what to pack for the trip either since I had plenty of new clothes to wear now thanks to Miss Evelina. Aside from the suit obviously, she gave me plenty of clothes to mix and match. Now I can see why Vlad likes going to her for his suits and stuff, she's really good at her job. Heck, even though she was a ghost even I felt comfortable around her after the initial awkwardness was over with.

Anyways, once Vlad finished all of the arrangements for the trip we flew to London and left our things at his private villa -one that looked like something straight out of a fairytale since it was covered in ivy with a fountain in front and a large iron gate- after changing into our new suits. I honestly expected Vlad's villa to be more like a second castle until he explained that while his many trips here inspired him to eventually get his own this was just one of those places he usually only stayed while on a business trip over here, or while on vacation if he was staying for more than two days so he could avoid the paparazzi...

Makes sense. I mean to me Vlad is just Vlad, but to everyone else he was the multibillionaire Vlad Masters. Plus on the other hand, it would have been a hassle for Vlad to try to check me into a separate room at the hotel he usually stayed at during short trips since I was only 15. Even with his connections and careful planning that was bound to look suspicious. It was already sketchy enough that Vlad had to make me a fake passport for me so that to anyone else it really did look like I was here as an exchange student. That's my cover while we're here, Vlad explained it to me as soon as we got into the limo. He told me what my story was in more detail just to make sure I knew what to tell people if they got too nosy, otherwise I needed to do what I usually did and dodge the question.

It wasn't until he told me what my cover story was that it really hit me exactly why Vlad seemed so excited when I accepted his offer to bring me here and why he saw this as the perfect opportunity to take me out in public again. Not to mention how he knew I could pull off this little act of ours without breaking a sweat. Apparently this big shot company that was being handed over to Vlad tonight worked as partners of the ESA, or the European Space Agency, and they built most of the space shuttles over here in Europe using rare and very hard to come by materials. And since I knew a lot about space travel in general, Vlad said it was a blessing in disguise that this was the type of company he was taking over since they built something I actually knew something about.

That helped me relax a little bit but I was still nervous about the whole thing. What if I screwed up? What if I made Vlad look bad? What if these people found out I was- ! Shaking my head and mentally slapping myself, I told myself, _Danny, you've fought and beaten hundreds of ghosts and even the king of all ghosts, you can handle one stupid dinner party! Besides, the guy who used to own it is a family man and invited a bunch of his employees here with their own families tonight since these parties are usually a private thing so it won't be weird seeing another teenager there. They're just normal people...and Vlad believes in me so how bad can it be? I've handled bullies too, both human and ghost, so if anyone messes with me I can make a witty comeback and will probably never see them again anyways. It's not like I'm ACTUALLY an exchange student trying to get into the ESA. I'm not technically here with Vlad either so I don't have to put on airs like I'm some rich kid._

As if reading my mind as I stared blankly out of the tinted window of the limousine, Vlad reminded me, "Daniel, there is nothing to worry about. Just be yourself until you have to pretend otherwise and enjoy yourself. There are a great many dishes I'm sure you'll enjoy and young people who share your interests because of their parents work. I daresay this may be the first time you can meet someone without them judging you based on your parents _'real'_ work since that is not who you are tonight. Tonight, you're just another one of them invited to a dinner party that very few are privileged enough to attend so most of them have been looking forward to it so long as their parents didn't drag them there."

I nodded and finally unglued my eyes from the window to look at him and I blinked, still not used to Vlad wearing anything other then his usual black suit and red necktie and maybe a few causal clothes around the castle when work didn't keep him busy or we were weight training. "Yeah I know, I keep telling myself that but it's still been ages since I've had to be around other people. I think I can handle it since I've dealt with worse. And yeah, not being treated like a freak because my parents hunt ghosts is going to be like a dream come true."

"I'm glad you feel that way, and since I'm not presenting you as my nephew or anything of the sort no one should bother you aside from idle curiosity. If they do though, my presence should steal their attention away from you long enough for you to slip out unnoticed. Remember Daniel, there are no ghosts here for you to fight, no wonton portals opening at a whim releasing them, no preconceived notions about the sort of person you are, so enjoy the freedom you have here and remember to be careful. After that I have confidence that it will all work out," Vlad smiled warmly, and that smile was contagious because it made me want to smile too despite the knot in my stomach.

All we had to do was get through this party, and after that, Vlad promised we would see as much as there was to see since this was my first time out of the country through normal means. I've already been to space before, traveled the unknown reaches of the Ghost Zone, heck I've even traveled through time! So seeing more of my own world, for once, seemed just as exciting...

* * *

Oddly enough, the easiest part of all this was the bait and switch where Vlad stepped out of the limo ahead of me to let his bodyguards escort him inside and give people the chance to take pictures of the world's richest man. They could care less about the limo or who else might still be inside once we drove away so I could be escorted inside another way entirely without the hassle. The other bodyguards didn't even know it was the same limo that drove up with me inside, their instructions were just to make sure I made it safely inside and then my _'guardian'_ would come to receive me. I wasn't as important a guest as Vlad obviously, but I was an exchange student there on a scholarship that Vlad offers to promising individuals all over the country so I might as well be. Turns out the scholarship is totally legit too under normal circumstances.

Who knew right?

Anyways, according to Vlad the dinner party was being held at the main office building this guy -Richard Dawson I think his name was- owned since it was easier than renting a place out. Plus since most of the guests were his employees it made them feel more comfortable too. I've never heard of him before but thankfully Vlad gave me the specifics of what he does for a living so if anyone asked me why I was interesting in joining the space program here instead of back home I'd know what to say. He sounded like a decent guy, and a brave one for sticking to his guns so long with Vlad trying to get him to sell his company to him...

Guess he decided he wanted to retire though and since Vlad proved to him somehow that he wouldn't rob good people of their jobs or change the _'spirit'_ of this place too much Mr. Dawson finally agreed to hand it over to Vlad. I still don't get it, then again it doesn't have anything to do with me. I was only here because Vlad couldn't leave me alone back in Wisconsin. I could have stayed in the villa of course according to Vlad, however, he also managed to bribe me and say that if I came to the party with him after all then, and I can't believe I'm saying this, he'd take me somewhere out of the way and let me drive one of his sports cars! He always brought a few with him on his private jet apparently just in case.

Now THAT was something to look forward to! And all I had to do was make it through the night. Yeah, this was going to be-

I was so busy daydreaming about Vlad showing me how to drive a normal car that before I knew it we were there and when the elevator stopped, I froze. There were a lot more people there then I expected waiting in the other room behind the glass doors and I only just barely heard one of bodyguards tell me to wait there for my guardian. I just went along with it too and when the guy showed up to relieve them of their duty I was at a loss for what to say.

Thankfully my stand-in guardian wasn't phased by my sudden case of nerves and said, "Ah, you must be Daniel, the exchange student I was told to expect. I've been made aware that you'll be attending tonight's event alone since your usual guardian couldn't make it. If you'll follow me I'll show you where the rest of the guests have already gathered. My name is Mr. Freeman and I'll be standing in for your guardian this evening so if you need anything please let me know."

"Oh, right. Thanks," I nodded gratefully, taking a deep breath and reminding myself that everyone here were all just normal people, filthy rich or not, and they didn't know me so I didn't have to worry so much about hiding the truth like Vlad said. This isn't like when I first got my powers either and they kept going off all the time at the most random times. I could control my powers now and even if I did get stressed out I had an escape plan. Well, more like Vlad had one set up for me. Still, even if these people were strangers I wanted to make a good impression so rolled my shoulders a bit and cracked my neck, telling myself I could do this!

* * *

Vlad wasn't kidding when he said this was going to be classier then any dinner party I've been to, which by the way obviously wasn't many. I think the first one I ever went to was one Tuckers parents had. His mom was an amazing cook too and didn't account for how...big of an appetite my dad had since my mom had to go to the store to get some extra food as an apology for him eating more then his fair share. I don't think that would be a problem here since there were three long tables on each side of the room with heating trays for the hot food and a whole section reserved for normal stuff like fruits and baked goods. It smelled amazing.

I briefly looked around for Vlad but when I didn't see him anywhere I remembered he needed to talk to Mr. Dawson privately before they both made their speeches later. Besides which, once he did join the festivities Vlad was going to be the talk of the party and everyone was going to want to talk to him. I didn't mind, I saw plenty of him as it is but it was reassuring to keep a mental note of where he was too just in case I messed something up. I wasn't planning to, but knowing my luck I was better off thinking ahead for once.

I saw a couple of kids around my age here and there but I wasn't ready to mingle yet. I just wanted to get the lay of the land so to speak. Well that and I was still taking it all in because sometimes it was easy to forget I was in another country when I was in a normal looking office building. Well, normalish since it was still fancier then any I've seen aside from Mrs. Petrov's place and Vlad's home office. So yeah I guess I have been to places sort of like this so it was no big deal. Couldn't be any weirder than the Ghost Zone right...?

"I guess it would be safe enough to get something to eat just to tide me over. I saw some other people carrying small plates around so I should be fine," I said to myself before making my way to one of the tables.

"Hello young man, what can I get for you?" one of the servers asked, taking the lids off the trays so I could see what was inside.

I was thrown off by his accent since it was French and not British until I thought that this Mr. Dawson probably was rich enough to hire professional chefs for this dinner party so I took my time trying to figure out what everything was. I asked him some questions about each dish too and the guy was happy to tell me at first, but the moment another guest came in line behind me, some classy looking lady I was all but forgotten. I considered serving myself since he left the trays open but decided to give him the chance to come back to help me. However, turns out he was being all flirty with her so I gave up and was about to reach for the most appetizing dish when-

"I'd recommend the Scotched Eggs and a slice of the Welsh Rarebit, they go really good together and are easy to eat," a girl's voice pointed out from beside me where she was getting help from another server.

I looked over to see what she looked like and blushed a bit, because wow she was cute! Her hair was bright red, cut short, and insanely curly, then her eyes were blue with little flecks of gold and she had freckles on her cheeks. She was wearing a green sweater dress that hung off one of her shoulders with two pockets and some grey leggings and a pair of brown felt boots. I sort of felt over dressed all of a sudden while standing next to her but I got over it fast when the server FINALLY came back and asked again if I'd decided on what to have.

So, taking her advice I asked for the two things she mentioned and the server put them on a plate for me and offered to get me a drink too. But I didn't want to have to carry that around so I said I'd come back later. I suppose I was just glad he came back at all since he seemed bored with anyone that wasn't a girl.

Speaking of which, I turned to thank the girl that helped me decide and smiled at her, or tried to anyway since being around someone so cute was making me nervous. "I uh, thanks for helping me decide what to get. I've never eaten anything like this before."

"I figured as much, you're an American right?" She asked, blushing a bit herself. "My name's Ivy by the way. What's yours?"

"Danny," I replied, pausing to take a bite of the weird looking bread ball I assume had eggs or something and I was surprised when it was like a meatball but with a whole hardboiled egg inside! "Wow, this is really good!"

Laughing because I was getting so worked up over something like that she chuckled, "Init? My mum makes them all the time and you'd think we'd get tired of them but we don't. Not one bit. Try the bread next."

"Nah, I will in a bit," I told her, not wanting to only talk about food at a time like this when such a pretty girl was talking to me. Willingly! "So, what brings you here? I was kind of...invited at the last minute so I'm not sure what to do."

"Do?" Ivy wondered, giving me an odd look. "You don't have to do anything special here mate. Most of us are just lucky to be here since my mum's boss hardly invites normal folk like us to parties like this. But I heard he has some sort of big announcement that has something to do with that fancy rich fella Vlad Masters. You've heard of him yeah?"

 _Figures she'd talk about him first,_ I snickered internally then answered aloud, "Oh yeah, he's kind of a big deal back home. I saw him on the way in."

Her eyes lit up and she asked me, "Oh wow you did? Did you get any pictures? What was he like?"

I shrugged, "I don't have my phone with me because it broke recently, I still need to get a new one so sorry."

"Pity that..." Ivy sighed. "I was sure you looked fancy enough in that custom suit to have gotten a closer look at him. I've been asking everyone I know for a picture of him since I promised to show my little brother, he was too sick to come to the party so mum made him stay home."

"That sucks. But even under normal circumstances it's hard to get a picture of the guy," smiling a bit at my own inside joke I added, "Vlad's like a ghost and disappears when he doesn't want to be seen."

"Really?" Ivy wondered thoughtfully. "Well I guess that's true since he doesn't like going to parties like this often unless it's a big deal. Kinda makes you wonder what's going on between him and Mr. Dawson."

I opened my mouth to reply and without thinking told her, "I think Vlad said he has been trying to get Mr. Dawson to-"

"Wait, you've TALKED to Vlad Masters?!" Ivy exclaimed a little too loudly and I flinched when a few heads turned towards us.

My heart started hammering in my chest when she started looking at me expectantly and I swallowed hard. _Don't panic, just say you overheard him talking to someone. They'll buy that._ I thought and then laughed nervously. "Pfft, yeah right. I only overheard him talking to someone on the way in."

"But that still means you got close enough to do that. What else did he say? Come on, you can tell me!" Ivy pleaded, batting her eyes which made me suspect that she was only interested in hearing about Vlad.

She didn't care about me at all which was kind of a bummer. I really thought wearing this suit would help me blend in more and I forgot that there were normal people at this party that worked here and their families had been invited. Ivy was just one of those girls, and I thought I'd feel relieved to meet someone normal but then...maybe the little brother bit was a lie, maybe she was just looking for gossip and I didn't want any part of that. It was like looking at a red-headed Paulina, someone who liked to bat her eyes til she got what she wanted. Come to think of it, Val did that once too when she was dating Tucker for a little while. Still, this was getting dangerous so I needed to back out of this conversation before someone even more nosy got the wrong idea.

"There's nothing to tell, that's all I heard," I finally said, putting my foot down. "Just because I'm wearing a suit doesn't mean I know all the rich people that were invited here. I'm just-"

"Ok ok, fine, just chill mate," Ivy frowned. "No need to get your pants in a tizzy I was only asking. See you around I guess, I think I hear my mum calling."

After that, she left and I sighed in relief. I really should have seen that coming but I thought it'd be someone else who asked. Not that it mattered as long as I didn't get caught in a lie or made Vlad look bad. But I couldn't let this get me down. I handled it pretty well if I do say so myself and Ivy was just one of the normal guests. There were still other people walking around that were a bit more dressed up like I was, not that I wanted to hang out with them just because I looked the part too.

In the end, I decided to get some more food after finishing the two things I tried first that Ivy suggested and thought I might as well be a little adventurous before the party was over since I wasn't likely to ever do this again. There were a lot of reasons for that but I tried not to think about them and found an unoccupied corner to lurk in like I was used to, though before it was with Tucker and Sam. And I'll admit, seeing some of the other people in their established groups made me feel a bit lonely since this was my first time in public for months and I was completely alone. The last time I felt this isolated was when I was begrudgingly invited to one of Dash's parties because my sister told him she'd only go to the party if he did. I brushed off my friends to get a taste of popularity but in the end, it wasn't worth it. I still needed them and they were the only ones who cared about me. Being here reminded me of that and it was hard not to feel depressed about it.

That's when another girl walked past me like she owned the place and I half-expected her to tell me to buzz off when instead she said- "Sorry about Ivy, I saw her bugging you earlier but my dad was too busy dragging me around and introducing me to all his business friends. Bloody hell it's like I'm some sort of trophy the way he goes on about me. Anyways, I wouldn't take it too personally, she's been bugging just about everyone trying to get pictures of that filthy rich bloke which really she only wants to brag about in her blog. Everyone who goes to my school knows that story about her brother is bollocks. He's been in the Navy going on three years now."

Now this girl was the polar opposite of Ivy. Her hair was jet black and tied in a loose braid and her eyes were dark green. As for her outfit, she was wearing a sleeveless black dress with a matching grey vest that was bejeweled in the shape of a rose on the back. But since I was still a bit on edge after my last encounter with a cute girl I didn't say anything and just nodded in response, continuing to eat what was left on my plate. This new girl didn't seem to mind though and was content to share my corner. Thankfully there was a place to set my plate too on this rack that someone would clean later since they didn't use the disposable kind so that freed my hands to reach into my pocket and check my phone to see what time it was. Yeah I know, I lied about mine being broken sort of but Vlad insisted I carry this one on me at all times in case of an emergency. I changed his name to _'Fruitloop'_ though in case anyone tried looking at the caller ID if he decided to check up on me instead...

Good thing I did too because the new girl next to me happened to glance over and saw the NASA theme I put on the background and it pointed out, "I didn't know you liked space travel too. Isn't NASA the space program they run in America?"

"Yeah it is," I smiled, remembering what sort of company this was we were in right now. "I heard this company makes space shuttles which is really cool. I have a telescope made with the same sort of materials back home."

"What model is it?" She asked, and since she actually sounded interested in it I told her.

After that, she told me her name was Anwen and before I knew it, for the first time ever I was talking to a girl that knew a thing or two about space travel who could keep up with me. Tucker could sort of follow along with the tech side of thing but Sam was more interested in the mythology behind the constellations which was fine I guess since I liked knowing their backgrounds. What interested me though was what was beyond what we already knew, the undiscovered, a world far beyond our own. And more then that, the freedom that only leaving everything behind could offer...

Originally that's what I wanted. I wanted to combine something I loved with my need to escape my parents shadow. That's why here, even if there were still some issues Vlad was right. No one knew me here, and more importantly they didn't know what my real parents did for a living. If they did, well, lets just say I was all too used to even the geeks in my school treating me like a loser. Here, even though I had to lie about some of it, I could be more like my real self then I've ever been minus the ghost powers. It wasn't until just then that that really hit me. I was...free here. I was free because Vlad gave me this opportunity and I-

"Excuse me, would you be Danny by any chance?" some random guy asked.

"Yeah that's me. Do you...need something?" I asked, doing my best to sound polite since I could tell right away that this guy was one of the higher ups because of the way he carried himself.

He smiled at me in a very _'old-evil-Vlad-like'_ way which was the first red flag before he even asked, "Indeed. You see, there has been a most curious rumor floating around this evening that you're an exchange student from America who procured a last minute invitation to tonight's festivities. That is no small feat given that nothing else ties you to this company. Normally this wouldn't be of any particular interest to me, except for the fact that you're only visiting our fair country thanks that fancy scholarship offered by none other than Vlad Masters himself to those with the most impeccable talent. So tell me, how're you enjoying our country so far? Great you say? Splendid! Now, rumor also has it that you were close enough to his person to have overheard him talk about what his intentions are here tonight. Close enough to overhear some other information I'd like to be privy to as well. Would you be so kind divulging that information so we can both be on our merry way? I'm sure we both have better things to do."

"Oi, fancy pants, we were in the middle of talking so would you mind asking later?" Anwen huffed, putting a hand on her hip.

Narrowing his eyes at her he smiled nastily again, "Ah yes, you're Ethan's daughter aren't you? He's been wondering where you ran off to. Shall I tell him I found you?"

"Bloody hell...can't he leave me alone for five minutes?" Unfortunately, it looked like she was more worried about avoiding her dad then looking out for me so Anwen gave the guy a look then turned to me and said, "Sorry Danny, I really don't want to deal with my dad anymore right now. I'll talk to you later. If you need me, I'll be looking for a new corner to get _'lost'_ in."

I didn't get the chance to reply before she half-stomped off, which was impressive given how high her heels were, and I was left alone with this random stranger who was already being much more pushy then Ivy was earlier. Thankfully, before he could ask any other questions, an announcement was made over the intercoms telling us that it was almost time for Mr. Dawson's speech and that him and Vlad had arrived. After that, the guy seemed to care less about me and strolled off without a word, asking around for news on where they were now.

Just then, I felt my phone vibrate but I didn't recognize the number. I answered it anyways just in case and found out it was my guardian looking for me so he could escort me to the larger room where most of the tables were where most of the other guests were eating their meals. Great, NOW he tells me that! I could have taken my food in there and avoided some of the weirdness. Then again, I got to meet Anwen too and she was kinda cool. The plan was to meet up with Vlad in his private dining area sometime after his speech was over anyways so I told them where I was and then Mr. Freeman led me to my seat, which was unfortunately right next to that creepy guy from earlier and his wife. Ironically, it was the same lady the server was flirting with earlier. Talk about potential drama.

Still, I tried not to think about too much and paid attention to what was going on just enough so I could talk to Vlad about it later if I had questions. That's when I got my first good look at Mr. Dawson and I was surprised by how much he reminded me of that news guy Lance Thunder who always got suckered into covering action news when he was supposed to be a weatherman if he was much older and his hair was less flamboyant.

He started his speech by thanking everyone for attending and telling us that to end the evening a raffle was going to be held so everyone was supposed to check under their place mats once both speeches were over and the winners would be called up to claim their prizes. After that he moved on to talking about what this business stood for and what it took to build it up to what it was and blah blah blah. After awhile I started zoning out like I usually did in class when I was too tired from ghost fighting until Mr. Dawson must have finally said something about the real reason behind this particular dinner party and I jumped when that guy from earlier hit the table and snarled about what he said being an outrage because he didn't consult the board members before making this decision but since it had nothing to do with me I ignored him.

It was only after that, when Vlad took Mr. Dawson's place and scanned the crowd, that I started paying attention again and our eyes locked for a moment longer then on anyone else. Guess it was a moment too long because Mr. Grumpy next to us noticed it and shot me a dirty look, again, reading too much into the cover story Vlad gave me for some reason...

This time, I paid much more attention to Vlad's speech because seeing him addressing people so normally like this was, at least for me, totally out of character. It wasn't like when he made speeches back in Amity Park when he was elected Mayor; the way he spoke to the other guests was very professional and to the point but he seemed happy with the result and looked forward to working with such talented people from now on. There were some complaints I overheard with my ghost hearing about this shocking news but for the most part people were just in awe of him and hoped that Vlad's ownership of the company meant a brighter future for their kids since he was already the owner of several multi-million dollar companies that made advanced technology already.

Oddly enough, through this I found out that Dalv WAS a real company after all. I just always assumed it was fake after Vlad used it to send my mom and I a fake invitation to a science symposium in Florida that one time. I was usually too busy stopping one evil scheme or the next to wonder what his normal day job was all about, if he even had one. But through our time together I learned that Vlad did in fact, work very hard at what he does and he did have a life outside of making mine miserable. That was before though. Now, for the first time ever, I was seeing Vlad living out his human life too without the hidden agendas. Well, ok beside the fact that he's been putting pressure on this guy to sell his company for who knows how long. Aside from that though, this was normal for Vlad. This was part of who he was now. And it reminded me all over again just how special it really was that at home...Vlad showed me sides of himself he never even showed the kind of people here today. A side of himself where he was more then a multibillionaire, Vlad was...human just like the rest of us, a human like me who wanted nothing else but to be accepted as a person by the people who really mattered to him.

And maybe...I could be that person for him, just like he was being to me by giving me the chance to show me what life could be like when all of this was over. I wasn't incapable of making friends or of dealing with problem people. I proved that tonight I think. I wasn't as naive as before and could look after myself in most cases. Maybe that's what Vlad was trying to prove by bringing me here. This wasn't just about getting me out of his castle, it was about helping me regain my confidence. That just...made me feel so grateful that when Vlad's speech was nearly over, I completely missed the fact that he mentioned that I really was a scholarship student and that the future was in my hands and it was up to people like him to hand them the tools. I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts at the time. But sadly, it didn't escape that nosy guys notice and the look he gave me, if I'd seen it, would have only reminded me of the creepy power hungry look Vlad used to give me when all he thought about...was using me for his own ends.


	62. I'm Just Your Average Foe

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

* * *

Chapter 61: I'm Just Your Average Foe

* * *

Danny's POV

Once Vlad's speech was over it looked like he was busy meeting his new employees who were all trying to get a leg up once they got over the shock that their old boss was retiring so there was still some time left before we met up again which gave me plenty of time to find Anwen. Out of all the people I met tonight at least she seemed cool and since I would probably never see her again I wanted to make the most of it. Besides, I was worried that whats-his-face made good on his threat earlier and ratted Anwen out to her dad who's been parading her around all night...

Maybe it was my heroic nature kicking in but I just wanted to make sure she was ok before I did anything else. Too bad I forgot to look after myself since Vlad's comment towards me being a scholarship student caught some unwanted attention. Namely from whats-his-face who was already clued in to why I was here supposedly. I saw him coming out of the corner of my eye and had to resist the urge to turn invisible after ducking into a small group of people talking about something or another.

When I looked back in front of me though I caught a glimpse of Anwen's bejeweled rose glinting in the light and was about to make my way over but then it was gone. Crud. I didn't want to make it too obvious I was looking for someone so decided to head back into the other room where the servers were to get a drink. I was kind of thirsty anyway. Sadly, I barely made it to the glass door leading to the other room when a hand reached over to open it for me.

"Allow me," he smirked. I didn't even have to look up to see it was whats-his-face, I recognized his voice.

"Thanks," I replied curtly, not wanting to play his game since it reminded me way to much of how Vlad used to be.

Noticing my guarded tone, he laughed and stepped inside after me and clapped me on the shoulder, "Now now, don't be like that. We're all friends here aren't we? Someday we might be working together if your scholarship works out and you graduate with honors just as expected of a protegee of Vlad Masters. By the way, I never properly introduced myself. My name is Issac Traven. I've been looking for you since we didn't finish talking before. For that I do apologize. Now you were telling me what you know about Vlad Masters? My office is nearby so we can speak there without interruption."

I felt him steering me away from the party a bit forcefully and even though I could get away easily, I was fed up with this guy hounding me. I was here to have a good time and between him and Ivy trying to get information out of me all of those opportunities were being taken away. So you know what, enough of this. If he wanted to play these little word games with me then he was in for a surprise. Compared to Vlad, this guy was probably a total showoff but nothing else. Like he talked a big game but Vlad OWNED the game. And if I could keep up with someone like that, then this guy wasn't going to pose any real threat.

Again...I've faced worse.

Mr. Traven was lucky he had an office nearby to hole up in while he continued to harass me because otherwise I totally would have found another way to avoid him. I still had my escape plan after all but I didn't want to spend the rest of the night hiding from one nosy rich guy. We were here tonight so I didn't HAVE to hide, at least for awhile, and I wasn't about to let this guy be the reason I ducked out of the party...

It was a nice office, I'll give him that, but compared to Vlad's private office at home it was still less extravagant. His various college degrees were hanging on both sides of the walls in their cold stainless steel frames and in the middle of the room at the far end was a polished wooden desk where his laptop, a tray full of paperwork, and a photograph of him and his wife sat. Aside from that, it was like any other office. Plain and ridiculously organized. Thankfully, whoever designed this place was a big fan of glass doors so I could see back outside the room and it'd be easy to find my way back once I was finished here. Because like I said, I didn't want this guy bugging me the whole time so it was better to give him what he thought he wanted from me.

"Please, have a seat," he offered politely but there was an edge to his voice, meaning he was feeling just as impatient as I was.

"I'll stand thanks, this shouldn't take very long. After all, we both have better things to do...don't we?" I smiled to myself when I noticed a slight twitch in the corner of his lips when I threw his words from earlier back at him. Tapping my chin, I thought about the sort of _'info'_ this guy was after and then gave it to him with a snarky tone, "Now lets see, what DO I know about Vlad Masters? Hmm, well I know lots actually! He's a multibillionaire in his 40's and he owns some of the biggest corporations in the world! He recently took an interest in space materials for a reason he hasn't publicly disclosed yet, and he's known to be real cutthroat when something or someone gets in his way. I can see why you'd be wondering how he managed to get your boss to sell this company without it being a hostile take over. My guess is they came up with some kind of deal that benefited them both. Don't you agree? I mean Mr. Dawson did say in his speech he's been thinking about retiring for awhile now but not until he knew the company was in good hands. Can't get any better then Vlad Masters then I guess."

"I asked for private info, not facts you can get off of the internet or in a newspaper," Issac snarled. "Tell me about Vlad Masters as a person. Those scholarships he offers are exclusive and often include a private interview with the man himself to see if one is worthy. That being said, you must have spoken to him at some point. If not tonight, then sometime before! I must know what he's really after. You're a part of that plan obviously as part of this _'future'_ he envisions. Why else would a brat like you be invited here and given the VIP treatment which is normally reserved for only those such as myself with any real recognition. Budding genius or not, you're just a boy, nothing but a lad. Now tell me, what are his plans?"

Resisting the urge to roll my eyes, I shrugged, "Ok, fine. Vlad wants the company so he can build some sort of super-advanced prototype for a space shuttle that can colonize Jupiter or some planet like that. Apparently it has some gas that works as a great anti-aging cream which is how Vlad looks so young."

"I am losing my patience boy!" Mr. Traven growled, drumming his fingers loudly on the surface of his desk.

"You can't lose what you never had," I pointed out, which only pissed him off more. Deciding to throw the guy a bone, or at least appear to, I walked up to the desk and leaned my back on the edge of it as I glanced back at him and sighed, "Dude, you are giving me way too much credit. Just because I'm from the same country as Vlad it doesn't mean I know more about him then anyone else, yourself included. Besides, I'm only 15. What exactly do you expect me to know? I'm only here because I want to become an astronaut and maybe be the first to do that myself, be the first to explore one of the other planets in our solar system and see things no other living thing on earth has before. I could have stayed in my country to do all that, it's true, but just like Vlad I wanted to go where there were the best opportunities and the tools to get them done. And last I checked, since I don't work here that means I don't answer to you. You can't blame me for your boss not keeping you in the loop. I'm only here to see what this place has to offer and to have a good time. What I do after that is my business. If you want to know more about Vlad, go ask him yourself. Don't go around bugging some kid about it just because I got lucky with the timing. Vlad's a busy guy and he's rarely seen in public anyway so why would he spend so much time doting on a kid like me when he has a lot more important people to talk to then you OR me? Want some more info? I hear Vlad's natural hair color is pink, but he dyed is silver so it would look less ridiculous."

His lips twitching again, he sneered, "I might believe that one actually, cause no one would chose that color willingly, but I want FACTS you little-"

Cutting him off, I pulled the same thing as Issac did earlier when he didn't give me time to say anything and continued, "I wasn't finished...He's also a big Castlevania fan and secretly wishes he were a real vampire. That's why he owns his own castle in Wisconsin back in America."

Glaring at me, Issac finally stopped drumming his fingers on the desk and scoffed, "You know what? We're done here. It's abundantly clear that you know nothing of value and are content with mocking me like the daft adolescent miscreant you are. I do hope you enjoy the rest of your visit you little brat, because if I see you around here after this party it will go south REAL. QUICK."

"Oh, making threats now are we? To a 15 year old no less," leaning in close, I decided to make some threats of my own to make sure this guy would know better then to keep bugging me if he wanted to keep his job and I glared right back at him. "You really must be new at this, making threatening remarks at a party where everyone is trying to get what information they can on Vlad to get ahead of everyone else. In fact, this girl named Ivy tried pulling the same stunt with me earlier for some blog of hers just because I'm wearing a suit and she assumed I know Vlad personally too. Has it even occurred to you that this conversation is probably being indirectly recorded? Maybe that's why I'm here, to get your attention so you'll say something you regret later so I can tell your former boss you're not upholding the standards of this company and he'll tell Vlad to fire you on the spot. I bet you'd just LOVE for that to come out. I can imagine the headlines, _'Board member of big science company let go for threatening exchange student at big party',_ the title isn't catchy to be sure; but it won't look good for you. And if they released the audio recording, you can kiss your career goodbye. So if I were you, I'd be more worried about keeping the job you still have instead of trying to figure out what you think I could possibly know outside of the whole reason I'm here, which frankly is none of your business."

Issac huffed at that last remark and stormed out of his office, not looking me in the eye or acknowledging me at all. And once he was gone I stood there for a long time, processing everything that just happened. I shocked myself really. I haven't felt so calm and focused in ages and I really held my own against that creep. Then again, dealing with Vlad before used to be a lot like this and I had to keep my head in the game then too, even if it didn't always work...

This time it did though and I couldn't be happier. That should teach him a lesson. And if not, at least he'd stop being so nosy for now. Either way, I felt great so once straightened my suit out again, I walked out of his office with my head held high feeling like it was me, not Vlad, standing on top of the world.

* * *

Vlad's POV

 _Earlier that evening..._

At almost the exact moment Daniel left my sight, I created a duplicate to follow him around just to be safe. Because even though there was no danger here to him physically, much like before, I wanted to make sure I could step in if need be should it look like something was about to overwhelm him or someone got too close to the truth. Not directly of course but some strategic overshadowing usually does the trick. I just couldn't afford to risk leaving him entirely on his own for the time being, especially after what happened last time...

Not yet anyway.

Of course, I still made sure that my duplicate kept a respectable distance from him at all times. And I did this for two reasons. For one thing, I wanted to make sure Daniel couldn't sense my presence, and for another I didn't want to invade his privacy any more then absolutely necessary. Not to mention there were some things I wanted Daniel to work out on his own; such as coming to the realization that he could still handle himself just fine under normal circumstances.

It didn't take superhuman powers to deal with normal people like this. People who didn't judge him based on the stigma attached to him due to his parents work back in Amity Park. Here, he was just like everyone else. And there was a freedom in that which Daniel has seldom experienced up until now even before he became half ghost.

Aside from sending my duplicate to watch over him this was a typical social event for me. I had a reputation to uphold and so I smiled cordially at those I passed and portrayed an air of power and nobility as I made my way inside the office building. After making my grand entrance however, once we were behind closed doors and the voices of the rabble outside faded away, it was back to business. I met with Mr. Dawson privately not long after that to finalize everything. Then I was systematically introduced to several board members and the heads of each department who kept this company up and running.

Little did they know I'd already run a background check on all of them, even those who weren't here tonight, since I prefer to be thorough and know who was working under me. I also made sure to keep track of what skill sets each of them brought to the table. And now that they would be working for me instead of Mr. Dawson, so long as they didn't step out of line and performed their appointed duties with the same convictions as before, then there wouldn't be a problem. Of course, no one but Mr. Dawson himself knew the real reason I was attending this dinner party so his employees were both intrigued and daunted by my presence and most went out of their way as per usual to impress me. Understandable, after all, I was the CEO of several of the worlds most successful leading companies and gaining my approval could greatly improve their chances of making more of themselves in the business world...

I was well aware of how their minds worked and made note of their initial reactions towards me, however, at times I did find myself feeling a bit sidetracked whenever I checked in on Daniel via the telepathic link with my duplicate. You'd think I was used to it by now but since I was a bit overly concerned about him it was literally like my mind was in two places at once. I told myself not to worry about Daniel too much though, he wasn't helpless, and even though he started off a bit nervous about tonight I was pleased when I saw how he dealt with his first nosy encounter, a young lady by the name of Ivy.

I'd already predicted that some of the other guests tonight might start troubling him due to the simple fact that he was considered a VIP guest. But I wasn't about to risk having someone haphazardly ask him where his parents were or which department they worked for if I had decided to just have Daniel pose as the son of one of their fellow employees. If they caught onto our ruse that way, they might have thought Daniel snuck in to this dinner party and he would have promptly been thrown out or worse, handed over to the authorities.

That is precisely why in my speech I was going to indirectly mention a certain young man, aka Daniel, who was already here as an exchange student in the space program to banish any doubts about him being the last minute addition to the guest list. I would also add that he was a promising young man whom their guardian thought would greatly benefit from visiting a company like this that would very likely help build the space shuttles Daniel and his fellow students would fly in the future and so they pulled a few strings to get Daniel here tonight. That should satisfy their curiosity enough and keep them off our scent. At least the part where I was directly involved...

I finally allowed myself to relax a little after I saw how Daniel expertly maneuvered himself around the barrage of pointless questions from that first girl he met with bright red hair and quickly caught onto the simple fact that she was after nothing more then idle gossip about me. After that I decided that since there was nothing to be concerned about for the time being I took a small risk and left Daniel to his own devices for a little while while I on the other hand busied myself by meeting a few other important guests and securing new contact information.

When I decided to check on him again though a bit later I did take notice of one particular individual, one of the board members I was introduced to before in fact whose name escaped me for the moment, and from the looks of it he was clearly up to something. I didn't like the way he was looking at my little badger either, nor the way he casually strolled up to Daniel then began blatantly putting pressure on him. He also succeeded in chasing off yet another young lady that Daniel had met with black hair who he had clearly been enjoying a pleasant conversation with before this rude interruption.

On a side note I do remember seeing this other girl earlier this evening, Anwen I believe her name was, while her father was parading the poor girl all over the place like some prize-winning mare. It looked to me like he was trying to weasel his way over to me in particular so that he would get the chance to introduce his daughter just like he had to everyone else of note this evening. Knowing that she was being treated like a tool in such a way, I almost felt sorry for her. That is, until I was reminded of Daniel's old friend Samantha due to her uncanny resemblance to the goth, and any sympathy I might have had for this girl was quickly snuffed out...

At any rate, going back to the other gentlemen who was clearly after something from Daniel, I was about to send my duplicate to watch the man more closely when Mr. Dawson informed me that it was about time for us to make our speeches. I suppose the timing worked in our favor since it allowed Daniel to escape that board member's scrutiny for the time being and it allowed me a moment to recall my duplicate and absorb its memories while Mr. Dawson made his speech first. In the meantime, I scanned the crowd for Daniel and saw him seated at a table near the front and unfortunately the two seated in the table beside him were that same board member and his wife. Now those two certainly looked like the _'Bonny and Clyde'_ of modern times due to the way they hung on Mr. Dawson's every word with conceited and calculating eyes.

When Mr. Dawson announced that I was as of now the new owner of the company however, it was clear that this was not the outcome this young board member expected and he quickly became infuriated. Everyone else seemed only surprised by the news and some were even elated because they knew I could raise their company to new heights and therefore increase their profits overall by reputation alone. Curious about why this board member in particular seemed so out of sorts, shortly before it was time for my speech once his ended and we gave the guests a brief window to take in the exciting news, I asked Mr. Dawson a bit more about him after seeing his reaction.

His reply of course, came as no surprise.

"Ah yes, I had a feeling Issac wouldn't take the news well. He's never been a very patient man. Why, just last week when I sent out the invitations to this event I refused to tell him the purpose of this venture and he looked at me as though I just kicked his puppy since I normally would have consulted him and the rest of the board before inviting someone as...ambitious as yourself here. Especially when it's a well known fact that I've been denying you the chance to take this company from me at every turn on principle. Perhaps he wanted to know what weakness of mine you finally exposed, or what you offered in return for it that finally made me say yes. Not that it matters anymore," he chuckled, "I suppose the truth would be far less pleasing for him to hear at this point. The fact is, I'm just plain old and I would rather enjoy my remaining years watching my grandchildren grow up then sitting in an office signing paperwork."

"Will he be a problem?" I asked, still assessing the man in question while listening to Mr. Dawson's explanation.

Waving his hand dismissively, Mr. Dawson replied with a bit of amusement, "To a man like you, hardly. I would however keep an eye on Issac because while he's good at his job he does tend to allow his emotions to get away with him and doesn't know when to put personal ambition aside to focus on the big picture. I've been patient with him, likely more than I should have due to his many talents, but your standards are not mine. This company and all its assets are now yours to do as you will now and I trust you to make the most of them as you see fit. That includes removing those you think will be detrimental to the future of this company. And I trust you'll judge whether or not that is necessary or wise to do according to the skills of those involved that you might lose as well as their overall work ethic as I always have."

I nodded, "Thank you Mr. Dawson. I'll keep that in mind."

* * *

Now, what happened after my speech was over and I managed to excuse myself long enough to transform somewhere out of sight was by far the most interesting event of the evening. And by the end of it, I couldn't have been prouder of Daniel. I had planned to do this anyway after fulfilling my remaining obligations since I was known to excuse myself from most social events early since even I could only stand catering to the image that social elite had of me for so long before it bored me. The plan was to meet up with Daniel anyway in the private room Mr. Dawson arranged for me ahead of time since he knew I preferred dining alone, but once it became clear that this Issac Traven was snooping around too much for my liking I decided to keep an eye on them personally this time. Especially Daniel since I warned him before, people like this could be very ruthless and twist your words until there was no telling truth from fact.

I saw Issac practically push Daniel into his office which wouldn't look good for him once we checked the security tapes to verify this since he could easily be charged with harassment and escorted off the property. There was no need however when I saw that look in Daniel's eyes. Oh, he had a plan, it was written all over his face. And it made me smile upon seeing a bit of the old Daniel back so I was content to sit back and watch the show...

Honestly, I had no idea what Issac hoped to gain from this but he picked the wrong boy to mess with. He'd been taught by the best albeit indirectly before now how to handle wordplay like this. And Daniel handled himself with the sort of ease he used to during our many battles, making witty comments and twisting my own words against me too. It was satisfying though seeing him use those skills to put someone else in their place. I was also happy that Daniel clearly didn't feel the need to run to me for help and that gave me hope that my plan was working, he was regaining some of his old vigor once again.

When Daniel made a few of his little jabs at me, I had to stop myself from audibly laughing aloud because to some degree he was giving Issac exactly what he wanted. Daniel was telling him a version of the truth about me for the most part and that made it all the more outlandish in Mr. Traven's eyes. What better way to tell the truth than to spin it in such an outlandish or mocking way that they outright dismiss it? Well played, my boy! And it looks like Mr. Dawson wasn't kidding when he told me Issac was an impatient man. If I'd been the one speaking to him, he wouldn't have stood a chance let alone lasted five seconds of me verbally crushing his spirit and cutting him off at every turn much like he was attempting to do with Daniel. Amateur...

I did however bristle when Issac had the audacity to make threats to Daniel when he wasn't getting his way, and I almost got fed up with this display myself when I saw Daniel close the distance between them and paused to watch him, intrigued. I'd never seen him quite so serious and confident before and it was almost as if I was looking at someone else. Where was the boy who used to get so easily offended by every little quip I made at his expense? Where was the teenager who thought he couldn't stand up to anyone who wasn't a ghost? Well whatever gave him this bout of confidence, it was clear that he was driving the final nail into the coffin as it were and Issac had dug his own grave when he crossed someone who has stared death in the face more times then either of could count and made it out alive. Mere words from a total stranger, let alone a mere mortal man, clearly weren't enough to dissuade him from standing his ground this time, nor should they ever be-

Glaring back at Issac, Daniel finished him off by mentioning he was flirting with disaster by provoking him with what were likely idle threats, and risked exposing himself through stray recording devices. A risky bluff, but one Daniel could be personally assured of was the case. I'm not sure if he caught it, but at several points I could hear the faint muffled static from a concealed mic being tested by the owner. There were at least a couple, one was definitely on the person of that little viper, Ivy, who I normally think would make a good reporter or investigator were it not for her harassing Daniel earlier. So his assertions that this could reach the newspaper weren't at all unrealistic.

After that, Issac had nothing more to say in his defense or against Daniel so he stormed off. As for Daniel, when I turned back to look at him he seemed shell shocked, like he didn't know he had that sort of strength within him but before long, he was beaming with pride. Now this was the Daniel I remembered, the one I admired. And it warmed my heart to see him glow like this again without doing so in a literal sense. Shortly after, Daniel straightened himself out and glided out of the room as if walking on air and feeling on top of the world. So, deciding I wanted to give him the chance to bask in that small victory I made my way to our meeting spot after finding somewhere to change back and strolling down the hall in a similar manner, feeling just as please by how it turned out.

* * *

Danny's POV

Once I made sure the coast was clear, I entered the empty room where I was meeting Vlad and had barely sat down when the door opened behind me and the man himself walked in. Weird, I wasn't expecting to see him so soon but then again he was probably as fed up with these pushy people as I was. Only for him it was about a thousand times worse because of who he was. Still, he sure looked awfully smug about something...

"What're you smiling about?" I asked with a coy smile, genuinely curious. "I thought this was just a normal outing for you whenever you take over another big company."

In response Vlad laughed like it was some kind of inside joke and strolled over to the table opposite from us already set up with one of everything being served tonight, and once he finished dishing himself up a plate he came back then pulled out his chair behind him and sat down as he replied offhandedly, "Oh, it's nothing really. I just witnessed something very interesting between a certain young man and one of the board members. I must say, he gave him quite the verbal lashing..."

I blinked and then without thinking exclaimed, "Wait, that guy was a board member? And how did-oh, were you spying on me again?"

"Oh please Daniel, there's a difference between looking out for you and spying dear boy," Vlad smiled after rolling his eyes a bit at my last comment. "Apart from checking up on you indirectly throughout the evening, once my business was concluded and it was time for us to reconvene, I decided to make sure you hadn't gotten lost or caught up in tonight's politics. Mr. Dawson warned me about Issac Traven's discontent with the current situation, but I never imagined he'd set his sights on you of all people. I suppose it makes sense though to some degree since he was clearly grasping at straws and Mr. Traven was looking for anyone with connections to me because of the backstory we gave you about that scholarship I offer. At any rate, when I saw him lead you away from the party I followed you just in case I needed to...persuade him to give up the ghost as it were should he get too close to the truth about us. Turns out it was hardly necessary since you handled his little game just fine."

Blushing a bit, I asked, "How much of that did you hear...exactly?"

"Does it matter?" Vlad asked in response, his eyes softening. "The point is Daniel, I'm very proud of how you handled yourself back there. Standing up to someone like that isn't easy, even for most adults."

"Compared to dealing with you before, that was a cakewalk," I laughed, relaxing a little bit even though my cheeks were still burning. But more importantly, my chest swelled when those simple words left his lips. Vlad was proud of me. And it wasn't because of my powers, it wasn't because of some ghost I fought, he was proud of me- Danny Fenton. I was just beside myself since I've been waiting to hear those words for so long and this feeling, I was so happy right now it almost hurt. So after that I didn't hold back. I excited recounted everything that'd happened tonight from start to finish, including the part that Vlad already overheard I guess because he was right, I did need this and I felt amazing for the first time in what seemed like ages.

My excitement was contagious too because Vlad seemed genuinely happy too and hardly brought up business stuff at all when he began giving me suggestions on what sort of things we could do and the places we could go during this trip because thanks to who he was, there was so much more we could do even during such a short trip. It was kind of overwhelming really but it still made me happy. He also told me that on the last day of our trip we'd be taking a day trip to somewhere nearby where we wouldn't have to worry as much about being seen and it'd be way easier for the two of us to blend in...

Of course, we still had to be careful, but who cares? We did it, we made it through this dinner party and now I could focus on having a good time and at least for a little while we didn't have to worry about things back home. All of that could wait. I just wanted to make the most of this freedom while it lasted. And maybe it was Vlad's intention all along but...it wasn't until we actually came here that I realize how badly I really needed this. I needed to be around people again and see that once this was all over that maybe I could have a normal life. I could go back to school, make new friends, learn to drive a real car, go to collage, all of it. I didn't have to give up on my dreams anymore. I mean, things were doing alright back at home, Val and my parents were handling the ghost problems and Sam and Tucker were able to focus more on school now that there was a constant ghost shield around it and none of the usual ghosts, or any for that matter, could get in and threaten people, same goes for my sister.

All in all, things were finally falling into place and I felt like it wasn't so hopeless anymore. There was still Dan and the Fright Knight to worry about but...since Vlad was with me and actually had the power to help, maybe it was alright to start relying on him more completely from now on. He'd done so much for me and proven himself by going above and beyond to make me feel like what I needed mattered for once. He wasn't forcing me to do anything either. I chose to come here, I chose to stay with Vlad, and I chose to tell him at least a little bit about Dan. And maybe...just maybe, if we made it through the rest of this trip then I would take Clockwork's advice and take a chance on him. This was Vlad's second chance, whether he knew it or not in more ways then one. And because of everything we've been through these past few months, unlike before, I cared about his future and it didn't seem so bad anymore if I became a part of it.


	63. Dark Machinations

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (2/18/2019):** Again, sorry this took WAY longer then expected but here we are! Hope you like the big surprise!

* * *

Chapter 62: Dark Machinations

* * *

Dan's POV

It was almost laughable how easy it was; stringing those two along like this to accomplish my goal. Danny wanted to believe otherwise, but though he won our last battle, the war was far from over. I still had every intention of returning and creating a new ideal future for us whether he liked it or not. That was why first of all I made it a point to avoid the mistakes of the _"past"_ by obtaining even greater power so that no one in this, or any other timeline for that matter, could stand in my way.

To think, all it took was a little nudge in the right direction at the most opportune moment when the opportunity presented itself and then my younger self went running to Vlad as anticipated. And without much effort on my part aside from keeping them on their toes or having a little fun at Danny's expense, they would do what came naturally and do the rest of my work for me. Then, once history inevitably repeated itself, I would be free to become more powerful then ever before...

Those idiots will never learn.

Around six months or so have passed in the real world since Danny defeated me; most likely thanks to Clockwork's interference no doubt. And I suppose it's true that I underestimated his tenacity when Danny miraculously discovered how to use our Ghostly Wail prematurely and used my greatest weapon against me. It had taken me ten years to achieve the same mastery over this particular power, and unlike him I was no longer tied down by my human half so accomplishing that after only seeing me use it once was no small feat.

That's when it occurred to me, perhaps the root of the problem which allowed him to defeat me in the first place was that I had grown too complacent with my power level once I destroyed most of the world. That is, except for one place. Shortly before I encountered my past self, I used this new power to finally shatter the ghost shield that prevented the Earth's last safe haven, Amity Park, from facing my unbridled wrath as it had for years. At long last I was finally going to put an end to the place where it all began so that it would no longer be a thorn in my side; not to mention a constant reminder of my once human existence. Once I wiped that town off the map for good it would prove that I was the most powerful ghost of all and no one would dare oppose me again.

He had so much untapped potential, and it was being wasted saving people who didn't deserve to be saved. And ever the naive child, once he trapped me in this blasted thermos Danny was content with going right back to catering to the whims of those damned ingrates all over again and it sickened me. The poor fool didn't know any better so I would have to teach him properly this time. We were better off without those feeble human emotions, I was _"living"_ proof of that. Those feelings, that weakness, they were useless in the grand scheme of things and only dragged him down. He didn't know it yet, but I was doing us both a favor by opening his eyes to the truth sooner rather then later; that the only way for him to escape a fate far worse then what I had in store for us was to accept the inevitable by becoming the strongest ghost of them all and cast aside all other weaknesses.

Once such weakness being this insatiable need to _"always do good"_ and play the hero even when nothing good came of it for either of us back then. Danny was constantly letting everyone bleed him dry and it was only a matter of time before they ultimately betrayed him before the end. When we lost everything we held dear, which I now realize was only a burden I should have cast off much sooner, nothing changed for the rest of the world. Other ghosts continued to appear and pick fights with us, Valerie continued to hunt my ghost half even while she tried in vain to console my human half, and any sympathy we received from our fellow students and teachers at first was short-lived before it was back to business as usual. Including the bullying from Dash Baxter who blamed Fenton for Jazz's death and despite it being only a stupid crush was unable to accept that she was gone. So yes, as a human and a ghost, we were always the object of blame and the biggest lie we told ourselves was that there was any point in keeping up this farce. Trusting others was by far his greatest weakness and it only made it easier for them to stab him in the back once they've taken everything we had to give, even when there's nothing left.

It's one of the few worthwhile lessons that Vlad ever taught me.

Once I got rid of my human half to spare him from continuing that sad existence as the weaker half of a greater being with nothing left to live for anyway, I used my newfound freedom from those restraints to put my enemies in their place and I made each and every one them suffer appropriately for making our lives miserable in the past. I fully intended to do the same to all of those pea-brained bullies at Casper High who used to love degrading my human self. Too bad I revealed myself too soon and acted too heavy handed while making all of my enemies pay for what they'd done to me, just like I did with Vlad. Otherwise I may have gotten away with it before Valerie caught onto what I was doing.

Her expression was priceless when I admitted my _"guilt"_ of being the one responsible for the freak accident that killed my, or rather, Fenton's loved ones. It was partially true after all that one mistake cost us everything and I for one wasn't going to lose anything ever again. I would personally make sure of it. I had nothing left to lose and everything to gain, I just had to stop holding back and take it!

At any rate, of course she'd think that even if it wasn't the truth. Who wouldn't? After all, who would believe such a huge explosion was only an accident because some highly combustible condiments exploded? I certainly wouldn't had I not seen it first hand when Danny and I were one and the same. And who knows, after fighting ghosts for so long the only reason we survived is because we reflexively turned intangible and was thrown across the parking lot. By the time we came to, all that was left of the Nasty Burger was a smoldering ruin. But I digress.

With nothing else better to do, since that battle with my younger self had left me surprisingly weak I had no choice but to bide my time and recover my strength before planning my next move. Because as I said, I was far from finished with him. That's when the dreams started. At first I thought I was merely seeing glimpses of the past, remnants of my human half that appeared every so often in my dreams. I didn't have to sleep of course, being a full ghost now, but it was a luxury my human self had missed out on for years so even I enjoyed a good nap after a long day of wanton destruction...

However, what struck me as odd was that as faded as my memories of being human were, I had no recollection of most of these events taking place in my dreams. Why would I imagine such things then if it wasn't real? Was this some trick of Clockwork's to appeal to my _"good"_ side by reminding me of what once was? Hmph, he just didn't know when to quit. There WAS nothing good left. Well, nothing good for anyone but myself anyway since I was in this for number one from now on. And the only reason I kept the Fright Knight around was because we had a mutual understanding. I gained a pawn, and he was able to sate his own hunger by feeding off of the fear I brought with me wherever I went. We were not friends by any means. I was using him, and he was using me, simple as that. As for Valerie, the only reason I kept her around was for amusement since none of my old enemies posed a threat anymore even when they attacked me all at once with the same old bag of tricks.

So whatever this new trick of Clockwork's was, I wasn't going to fall for it.

Still, as more time passed and the dreams became clearer...I started to "feel" things until one day it finally dawned on me that this wasn't my past I was seeing, it was Danny's _"present."_ Interesting. After that of course I paid much closer attention to the events unfolding in my dreams which seemed strongest whenever his heart was gripped by this fear of becoming me and I could almost feel my core vibrate as a thrill ran up my spine when it drew me closer to him. This feeling, it was strangely similar to the telepathic link between my duplicates and they were merely extensions of myself so now, for whatever reason, there existed a similar attachment between me and my younger self. It was weak of course, and I couldn't always tell what he was thinking or had any dreams but when I did I began testing the limits of this connection to see if I had any influence over him...

Turns out I did.

The most I could do at first was influence his dreams but as my strength slowly returned, I began testing the limits of this unusual bond and at times I could even effect his emotions when they were aligned to my own. Good to see he was starting to catch on that those insufferable annoyances we called our friends didn't have a clue how much we sacrificed for them on a daily basis. Yet they'd have the gall to complain about us not having the time or energy to do anything else when they had plenty to spare even after joining us in a patrol that night. The only reason they could sleep safely in their homes all tucked away in bed and ghost free was because we were up fighting ghosts during the vast majority of it.

Fenton's parents were hardly any better, in fact, since all those ghosts were constantly appearing right under their noses those two were even worse. But given the fact that _"Phantom"_ was the first real one they'd ever seen they became fixated on defeating and studying us only when the mood struck and we passed their direct line of sight when it wasn't glued to some new weapon or invention because heaven forbid they actually go out and do their supposed job as ghost HUNTERS. To her credit, at least when a similar occurrence happened with Valerie when she saw us for the first time in ghost form at least she took her job seriously which made her all the more enjoyable to fight. I suppose now that I was the one picking fights with other ghosts and humans alike I can finally understand what they found so thrilling about it...

At any rate, as I continued _"shadowing"_ Danny I could feel my younger self gradually become more and more agitated with the direction his life was taking as time went on from where mine left off. Nothing seemed to have changed for him after defeating me. He was still being bullied, hunted by his own parents and former crush, targeted by ghosts, and most of all...Vlad was making it increasingly worse at every turn. I started to wonder if I had any sort of connection with him but what I felt when I searched myself for any remnant of Plasmius there was precious little of that part of him left. Makes sense I suppose since that was the first and last time I had ever overpowered Vlad so completely and his ghost half hadn't exactly been a willing participant in my creation.

He never saw it coming, and it wasn't planned, but once I was freed from my human counterpart and felt all of our shared emotions in full force for the first time and when I realized Vlad had lied to us yet again and failed to grant our last selfish wish even though he promised to make everything better like he always said he would if I joined him, a fury unlike anything I'd ever known before consumed the last remnants of humanity I had left when I made a choice. I was going to make him suffer like never before and take EVERYTHING from this man who like everyone else in our lives didn't care about what we wanted. They were selfish, all of them, and I let them use me to the point where I no longer felt like a person in their eyes even when I did have a human half. I was a tool, a convenient excuse, but no more! And so that was the other reason I disposed of my human side. Vlad said he cared about him? Well then that should be the first thing I take away from the man who ruined everything and never once meant a single thing he said about being a better father and a mentor. In the end, Vlad was just another selfish fool. And I was the bigger fool for ever falling for his lie that he could ever truly love and accept us-

After all, the one truth he told us that turned out to be right on the money was the one where Fenton's parents would never accept him. I was laying against the side of the thermos completely awake and bored to death, ironic for a ghost I know, when I felt a fear unlike any other assault my senses when Danny's world fell apart because of yet another careless act that was hardly any fault of his own. Now fully alert, I watched as frantic images flashed before my eyes one after another as events unfolded that made my non-beating heart pound in anticipation. This was it! This was the moment I'd been waiting for! Images flashed before my eyes of his parents shocked and angry faces, the bright color of both human and ghost blood staining our hands; I felt the ghost of an intense pain that coursed through his left shoulder in my own; and I could smell the heavy rain as it assaulted his retreating form and the burnt flesh after a bolt of lightning struck and sent him falling senseless towards the earth and the only reason that concerned me was because if Danny died any other way then what I had in store, I would cease to exist so I waited to see what would happen next in my mind's eye as something else happened that I also wasn't expecting.

By far, the more shocking event then that...was what I suddenly felt afterwards from another unlikely source. I explained before that whatever part of me was made up of Plasmius was weak and almost non-existent but in that moment I felt his fear for us as he swooped in to save us from injuring ourselves further on the cold wet ground. At the same time though, I too felt a twinge of fear when I felt myself fading because...Danny wasn't breathing by the time Vlad caught him in midair. It was an odd sensation, to feel yourself _"dying"_ when you're not exactly alive anymore to begin with but strangely enough I heaved a sigh of relief when he managed to revive us in the nick of time. That's when it became abundantly clear that there was another factor in my plan that needed to be added to the equation. Or rather, I'd forgotten to even consider it since my Vlad was nothing more then a pathetic sack of meat I planned on taking out last once my conquest of the entire Earth was complete and I proved to be more then he ever was even in his prime.

Turns out I kind of needed Vlad's ghost half too if I was going to make a completely new timeline for us, and right now he was all my younger self had that was keeping him alive. And I needed Danny alive -for now- because he was the core of who I was. Well, my former ghost half anyway, and Vlad was also a part of me. Try as I might to deny it. Then again...perhaps even this could work in my favor. Vlad was obsessive and protective, even though he never admitted to the latter when it came to the only two genuine things he claimed to care about. Me, and Fenton's mother Maddie. Out of the two of them his obsession with having us for the perfect son seemed much stronger where I stood. Especially if the echo of his feelings towards the broken boy in his arms was any indication.

He needed me, and I needed him but for entirely different reasons. I needed him to keep my past self alive, and Vlad needed an excuse to take Danny under his wing and keep him there for his own good now that his family had rejected him. And if Danny chose to accept Vlad's help since he didn't exactly have much of a choice, his two little friends were bound to reject his choice to stay knowing what Vlad was capable of. Namely being the person who created me in the first place.

Oh yes...the pieces were finally falling into place. It would take some patience on my part and I would have to plan this out carefully but finally, my time had come. I knew Danny could not avoid his destiny forever. And if Vlad's feelings were genuine he was all too eager to mold my younger self into someone more powerful who wouldn't let himself get hurt like this so easily. Good, I could use a leg up on my new future and Vlad would make the perfect tool to hone our powers to an edge since I'd wasted any chance of learning from him early on when we first met because I was still a nauseating goody goody. And once I was done with him, with all of them, this time I would make sure no was left to stop me.

No one.


	64. Look How Far We've Come

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (3/2/2019):** Hey guys, just wanted to say thanks to those of you who sent me some reviews for encouragement, especially after I let myself get discouraged and complained about the lack of motivation when I didn't get any after cranking out a chapter during a difficult time irl which I shouldn't have done, but hey, live and learn right? To the guest _"Its Bee"_ no I don't have a set schedule for updates but I try to give myself a break of at least 3 to 5 days between chapters unless I'm feeling inspired and write one sooner, later on when other things irl come up, or I'm not feeling up to writing again yet. So trust me, I always want to be at my best when I write one of these bad boys. And to _"lilypup345"_ thank you so much for your recent review because it made me smile and reminded me of how I felt the same way when I got back into the phandom. Once I rewatched the show I felt inspired to write my other fanfic _"The Grimoire"_ and when I went looking for other fanfics to read I was happy that there were still good Danny Phantom fanfics out there and that my efforts to integrate elements from Season 3 that I actually did like in a way that makes sense in these stories haven't been wasted. Speaking of, a bit of a spoiler here sort of, but good news! While this story is coming to a close pretty soon in the coming chapters it is not the end! I have plans for a sequel focusing on the aftermath of this story that will still show Vlad and Danny's side of things but will be mainly about Valerie and Dani, as well as some random one-shots that tie directly into _"Nowhere To Run."_ However, I do want to go back to finish working on my other Danny Phantom fanfic first so it'll be awhile til I start working on that. I hope you guys look forward to it since I've already done research on Valerie's character too to prepare for it! Anyways I've rambled long enough! Time to work on this chapter and post it when I'm ready!

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Chapter 63: Look How Far We've Come

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Vlad's POV

The next morning after the dinner party, I was surprised to find Daniel awake before I was and at first I was concerned he had had another nightmare. Honestly had it not been for the fact that Daniel was smiling while diligently pouring over the tour guides I gave him to peruse to help him decide what he'd like to do next I would have wondered if he'd been up all night using that as an excuse why. Part of me suspected Daniel DID stay up all night since it was rare for him to be up so early willingly. And this was precisely why I figured we could take it easy today and plan out the rest of our trip together now that it was simply a vacation now that the _'chore'_ part of this was over with.

I still had to make a few calls, but I planned to get those out of the way around lunchtime so that Daniel could focus on enjoying his food while we took a short break after deciding what to do this morning. And believe me, he'd only sampled a small taste of what cuisines this country had to offer at the dinner party and I knew all of the best restaurants in London, even a few small cafes with excellent coffee. In fact, I was happy to discover that Daniel had found the coffee maker in the kitchen and likely as a small gesture of gratitude he got a pot going for both of us...

Daniel told me once before that while he liked lots of sugar and creamer in his, sometimes he would try to help his parents out after a sleepless night of tinkering with some invention of theirs by making some fresh coffee for them. Though sadly after awhile it became yet another thankless task so eventually Daniel stopped bothering since half the time they let it go cold anyway, not noticing his efforts. His sister noticed though and at least cleaned up after him, which sadly led his parents to believe SHE was the one making it since she was a morning person unlike her brother. That's why I made it a point to thank him after pouring myself a cup and sitting on the opposite side of the table.

"Good morning Daniel, I must say I didn't expect to see you up so early. And thank you for the coffee little badger," I smiled, taking another sip.

Smiling back as he turned his attention back to the tour guides, Daniel asked, "I hope I did it right since it's been a while since I used a coffee maker. And you like it black don't you? I hope so since I couldn't find the sugar and there wasn't any creamer in the fridge. Also, I kind of wasn't expecting there to be so many different brands and blends in the cupboard, and some of them had labels I couldn't even read, so I just picked the one that smelled the best. Is it ok?"

I nodded and after finishing my first cup commented, "Your instincts were spot on then since this is the blend I usually make. That's why I have more of it than any other brand. Forgive me for not thinking ahead about what was going to be available food-wise here in the villa though. I have cleaners and such who regularly come to dust and clean the building and as part of their job they switch out any expired food products if I haven't been here in awhile and restock the essentials in which case sometimes they are misplaced in the wrong shelf. And you have a good memory Daniel, because yes, I do like to take my coffee black. That's probably why the maids didn't purchase any creamer when I scheduled us for a visit, it was purely out of habit since I rarely have guests here. Would you like me to buy some for you today?"

"Huh? Oh, um sure that sounds good...I guess," Daniel replied offhandedly, flipping through one of the pamphlets without looking at me.

"Daniel, it's rude not to look at the person you are speaking to," I lightly chided, waiting until Daniel looked up at me and blushed, closing the booklet he'd been reading after realizing he'd just brushed me off without thinking.

Looking at me apologetically Daniel laughed nervously, "Sorry, about that Vlad. Its just...you'd think I'd be used to someone actually paying attention to me and asking what I want for once since we've been living under the same roof this long, but I guess I'm not. And you know what they say, old habits die hard. Besides, since the dinner party went so well I feel like a million bucks! Pun intended. I'm also a lot more excited about all the cool stuff we can do now with the rest of our time here so it's hard for me to stop thinking about it! Anyways, speaking of which, I've been meaning to ask you something since last night so here goes nothing!" Looking slightly unsure of himself, Daniel asked a bit bashfully, "I know it's kinda dumb but...remember how you said I could drive one of your sports cars if I went with you to the dinner party? Well, I was wondering if we could do that today. I don't really care when we do it but I'm not gonna lie, I've been looking forward to it ever since you told me we could. I mean driving any normal car would have been nice with Jazz but driving a sports car is a dream come true! And didn't you tell me that we're not taking the limo today so we can stay incognito while we're out and about? Man, it's going to be weird seeing you drive like a normal person given how we can just fly to most places and you can teleport but whatever. Oh, and I was wondering if it'd be safe to take pictures on the phone you gave me to send to Jazz or if I have to settle for just telling her about the trip."

Accepting his apology first since I knew Daniel was only caught up in the excitement of playing tourist for the first time in his life, I chuckled and with a mirthful tone I pointed out, "It's quite alright, I know you were just caught up in the moment. But Daniel, is that really your ONLY request? To drive one of my cars? I have billions of dollars my boy, so the sky is the limit as far as this trip is concerned and even that is flexible. If I wanted to I could simply BUY you a car as a gift in advance that we could test drive together and I could keep it in my garage until you turn 16. For goodness sake Daniel! I could buy you an entire island of your very own with nothing but what I consider mere _'pocket change!'_ Jokes aside however, as for taking pictures...hmm, do you have that phone I gave you with you right now? If so, may I see it for a moment? I need to check something."

Nodding, Daniel reached into his pocket and pulled it out, handing it to me. Briefly, I turned off the power and took out the batteries to see if I remembered to add a certain chip to the device much like the one in Jasmine's laptop that filtered out ghost energy and I smiled upon seeing it was in place before I put it back together and handed it back to him, instructing Daniel to go to the camera setting and to take a picture of himself or me...

Of course, being the little scamp that he is, Daniel tried to take an embarrassing photo of me by snapping his arm up with his quick reflexes but mine were faster still and I was used to the paparazzi trying to sneak photos of me with a concealed camera the security guards somehow missed and I had a device on my watch that could overwrite the images on any digital device to make them blurry, and therefore unusable in any respectable news article. Of course, I only used it when they weren't allowed to take photographs of me or an associate and I otherwise had many ways to dispose of such bothersome things. Not that I could catch everything of course but it helped. At any rate, the expression on his face was priceless when Daniel looked at the photo he'd just taken and instead of a blurred image of me, there was nothing at all.

"What the heck? No freakin' way! Vlad...are you ACTUALLY a vampire? Why can't I see you in this photo? I know I just took a picture of you! And I took it too fast for you to go invisible so what gives?" Daniel blinked, taking one of him too and discovering the same thing happened to his own image and a surprised gasp escaped his lips and he looked at me dumbfounded and curious.

"Funny you should say that Daniel," I laughed, explaining what had happened in a little more detail. "While I don't aspire to become like a vampire as you claimed several times before, years ago I actually was inspired by the myth that vampires can't see their own reflection supposedly to design this chip which like the one in Jasmine's laptop and many of my personal electronic devices filters out ghost energy, therefore pictures cannot be taken of us unless the device is set to allow this manually. I'll show you how to change the setting in just a moment and don't worry, only the two of us can change these features on and off since it detects our ghost signatures much like a fingerprint, so if anyone ever did figure out how to reach that setting, the moment it detects anyone other then one of us access it it has a fail-safe designed to erase all the data on said device. It's a safety precaution I use regularly. In truth however, we are still there in the image, however to the human eye its as if we ARE invisible."

"Whoa, and here I thought my parents were paranoid," Daniel mused, staring at the small sleek cell phone in his hands with a contemplative look on his face. "Makes sense though, I mean the more money you make the more enemies you have who'd want to look for ways to blackmail you, steal your ideas, or figure out what makes you tick so they can use it against you. And when you have ghost powers some things might have been harder even for you to hide at first. How long ago did you make these things?"

"I made them shortly after making my first millions for the added security," I replied, a bit taken aback by how serious he sounded asking that question until it dawned on me that Daniel was thinking about the encounter he had last night with one of the board members of the company I now owned. Which made me wonder...was he worried about me? If so, I suppose there was something I should make clear to him about that to avoid any misunderstandings. "To be fair though Daniel, I was never in too much danger of being discovered as a hybrid once I was released from the hospital since I had ample time to adjust to my new physiology and I practiced using my powers in secret every chance I got in order to keep them from misfiring as yours often did I'm sure. Besides which, as I said before, my encounters with other ghosts were controlled and isolated once I invented my own stable portal. But I digress. It wasn't until I was certain I could control my powers entirely that I began using them for my...less savory ventures just to get started. And once I began my first successful business I devoted a lot of time and resources into designing these chips on the off chance anyone tried to, as you say, dig up some dirt on me such as a pesky business rival or the government. Aside from that, really there was no other reason for me to feel as concerned for my safety." Resting my hand on his forearm I asked him, "Daniel if this is about what happened with Issac Traven there's no need for you to worry, I've already taken care of it. So you don't have to worry about me. I appreciate the thought though."

"Me? Worried? Pfft!" Daniel scoffed, trying and failing to cover his embarrassment. "I was just wondering that's all!"

"Of course," I smiled, ruffling his hair. "At any rate, to answer your question yes, if you want to you can take pictures to send to your sister, but I would avoid taking any...what do you kids call them? Selfies?"

"Oh my god Vlad, do you even realize how old that makes you sound? Your slang needs some serious work," Daniel laughed. "But anyways, ok, that makes sense and I guess being allowed to take some pictures is better than none at all. I just wanted to make sure. So um, now that you're awake..."

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Danny's POV

 _A little earlier..._

I'm not sure what came over me but, after we got home last night I hardly slept at all because I couldn't stop thinking about how awesome I felt after I easily handled that one jerk-wad near the very end and I was reeling about how I good a time I had talking to Vlad afterwards since he always seemed interested in what I had to say once I opened up to him. It was a nice change of pace really, for someone to give a crap about what I was doing. I dunno, I was just so proud of myself and to me it felt like I accomplished this big thing when really it was nothing special. It just felt like it was. And I forgot how much I missed feeling like this, like I could handle myself in a fight -even though this one was only a battle of wits- and that someone actually took the time to listen and wanted to spend time with me.

This dinner party was nothing new to Vlad, but once he finished what he came here to do he seemed a lot more relaxed too, which made me feel like I was important and he could be himself around me. I was so used to Vlad putting on airs around everyone in Amity Park that when he seemed to only be standoffish and was acting like he was on a whole different level than everyone else here without outright acting all condescending and junk like he did back home it made me realize that Vlad really did act differently around me in both good and bad ways. Though thankfully now it was only in good ways. I could tell that his posture was softer, his voice kinder, his smile genuine, and when he looked at me Vlad wasn't treating me like some prize to be won or someone to use like that Issac guy did.

Not like he used to.

Honestly, I was kinda shocked when I really thought about the difference between how Vlad was now, how he acted around my parents, Amity Park as a whole, and how he used to be after comparing him to that Issac creep. Like seriously, Vlad has changed so much, but at the same time he hadn't in some ways which was ok because unlike before I could accept the bad along with the good parts of his personality because he wasn't putting anyone in harm's way and he was serious about helping me. And thanks to him taking the risk of bringing me here and letting me go out in public -sort of anyways- I was finally starting to feel like my old self again. It was awesome to realize that what I accomplished and what I wanted actually MATTERED to him and that I could still make a difference in someone's life. Not to brag or anything, but I'm starting to think Clockwork was right. Vlad needed a second chance too as much as I did and he needed at least one person that was important to him to give him the chance to become a better person by showing a softer side of himself to the people he had genuine feelings for. And I'd like to think it was thanks to me putting my trust in him that this was even possible.

He didn't have to force it or MAKE me trust him, well, not anymore, and that made all the difference. I guess that's why Vlad didn't try anything too underhanded aside from making my dad look bad during the reunion and afterwards. Vlad wanted something real in his life that he didn't have to steal, but sadly he went about things the wrong way out of hatred, arrogance, and general pettiness since he despised my dad and was jealous of him for getting everything he wanted without putting in much effort. Whereas Vlad on the other hand had to struggle for every inch when he was trying to get his life back together after it fell apart thanks to something that was out of his control. Sure my dad pressed the button to activate the proto-portal and the calculations were wrong according to my mom but none of them could have foreseen Vlad getting a blast of raw ecto-energy to the face and becoming half-ghost. I could relate to that since Sam and Tucker couldn't have known I'd accidentally turn my parents portal on while standing inside and it's not like they meant to hurt me.

When push comes to shove I guess the biggest difference was how we chose to respond to the people responsible for our accidents. In my case, I was as much to blame for the accident as they were since I thought it was safe since it didn't work like most of their inventions because back then Jazz and I both assumed ghosts weren't real and our parents were just eccentric. Vlad however chose to blame my dad for everything and began plotting out his revenge. And then once Vlad discovered I had a similar accident, he started trying to manipulate my feelings and make it seem like I had no choice but to accept him because of how alike we were. Not to mention that I should blame my parents for becoming a freak like this when really it was no one's fault but my own since I was the one who let Sam convince me to go inside the Fenton Ghost Portal, I was the one who stepped inside and accidentally turned it on, and I was the one who decided to fight ghosts since my parents drilled it into my head that I'd be taking over Fenton Works anyway once I was old enough. I just never thought I'd be fighting them AS a ghost. Well, half-ghost anyways.

But now...Vlad wasn't forcing anything. He knew I needed room to breathe and the freedom to decide things for myself and he gave me that; I needed to feel safe again and he provided it; I needed to feel like I wasn't alone...and there he was, standing beside me and lending me his support without any string attached. It all came down to our choices and how we treated each other so I wasn't about to go back to how things were before. I mean...I still missed Sam and Tucker, my sister too and our parents, but really, since I've been with Vlad it's almost like I didn't know what fresh air was until I took my first breath and realized I'd been suffocating this whole time. I didn't realize how smothered I was until Vlad gave me just enough space to breathe without making me feel like I didn't exist unless I did something bad like my parents did. And I didn't realize how little Sam and Tucker cared that I wanted to be an Astronaut until I met someone who ACTUALLY shared the same interests as I do...

As it turns out, aside from having ghost powers, I shared a few interests with Vlad too and those made him seem so much more human and relatable then before. Vlad was a bit of a geek that was fascinated with ghost lore and artifacts, but he also liked videogames and old rock music; and unlike my dad he admitted to being bullied in school too just like I was which surprised me since he could easily scare the crap out of anyone who gave him a dirty look now and came off as the bigger bully; but most of all, Vlad was never completely heartless and owned up to his mistakes with me and actually put in the effort to make it up to me with small and big gestures instead of just feeding me honeyed words. It's like the saying goes, actions speak louder then words and his were screaming _'you mean the world to me and your happiness matters'_ which was the best feeling after all these years of just going through the motions and trying to be a good person only to realize my efforts were never seen as good enough...

Anyways, the point is, Vlad didn't just SAY I was important to him, he showed me that I was by bringing me here and doing all this for me knowing the risks. That's why I wanted to make the most of it after realizing... it's ok to be a bit selfish sometimes. I was making Vlad happy by letting him spoil me a bit which I never would have thought possible so I wasn't about to back out now. I proved to myself I wasn't torn up anymore by what happened to me several months ago that sent me in Vlad's direction, I didn't throw away who I was by giving Vlad a chance, and I was saving him as much as he saved me in more ways then he realized.

To tell you the truth I was still intimidated by the whole Dan thing and wasn't looking forward to confronting the issue once we got back but for now those problems seemed so far away and I needed this. I mean I REALLY needed this. I needed to get away from it all. And I could be wrong but I think Vlad needed to know that at this point I've accepted who he is too and that he wasn't alone anymore and we could talk about normal things as much as ghost power stuff without the same reservations I had before. This was something only I could give him. Something he's wanted for a long time I think. Even if I couldn't see myself becoming his son, the least I could do was become his friend. And really, that's all I wanted from him too, someone who understood me and had my back. Because I don't think either of us wanted to go back to where and who we were before.

* * *

Later that morning after both of us had taken a shower and decided what to wear for the day, Vlad came out of his room wearing a long steel-gray leather trench coat, a maroon turtleneck with a red scarf around his neck, dark brown pants, and what looked to me like hiking boots but I could be wrong there. I on the other hand was wearing a simpler outfit of a dark blue jean-jacket, a light blue t-shirt with a V-neck, gray skinny jeans, and a pair of dark gray boots similar to Vlad's.

I felt kind of under-dressed next to Vlad but there was no way I was going to be wandering around London wearing a suit in this kind of weather. It was a nice day out but very cold and Vlad told me rainstorms were common here and could begin without warning so it was best to wear something warm or at least wear layers so that if we went inside anywhere we could take our coats off if we got too hot. I wasn't too worried about the cold since my ghost core had settled down a lot since we went to get help from Frostbite so the cold didn't bother me as much anymore. Besides, the key here was for us to look casual so we could blend into the crowd even with Vlad's reputation. Not to mention most tourists who get mugged are often the people who looked too _'American'_ which we didn't want to risk either. Not that we couldn't kick their sorry butts if they tried it.

Still, another thing you'd think I was used to by now would be seeing Vlad in stuff other than his black suit but you'd be wrong. As a joke I gave him a suspicious look and asked, "Who are you and what have you done with Vlad? Are you supposed to be his body double?"

"Oh please Daniel, as if I need to hire someone when I'm capable of doing that myself," Vlad grinned as he said this from behind me and I whirled around with a startled yelp, stiffening my muscles so I didn't reflexively enter a battle stance and punch him in the face since I hadn't quite gotten over that yet.

To cover it up though I laughed and looked between the two Vlad's and realized he had pulled a prank on me and I was in too good a mood to get mad at him. "Good one Vlad, you really got me there!"

Vlad of course reabsorbed his duplicate and smiled, ruffling my hair again before adding, "I suppose your good mood is contagious little badger because I couldn't resist the urge to mess with you a little. I can't remember the last time I used my powers for something like this. I used to be quite the prankster in my youth. And when I was bored at the hospital it was a good way to test out my powers to move objects by encasing them in ecto-energy."

I rolled my eyes, "Uh, hello? Did you already forget all those pranks you pulled on me after the Guys in White trashed your other castle? Yeah, I'm pretty sure I remember how much of a _'prankster'_ you are. Nice to see you ARE capable of doing it without being mean about it."

Vlad cringed a little at my accusation and admitted, "Yes well...a lot has changed since then and I'll admit I let my anger get the better of me. I suppose I owe you an apology for that Daniel. I did go too far a couple of times."

I shrugged, "So did I so I'd say we're even. It doesn't matter now anyway since you're not like that anymore. Not to me anyway. I'm sure that whatever you did to that Issac guy that works for you now as payback for snooping wasn't pretty though."

Grabbing his wallet and phone from the counter Vlad replied indifferently, "On the contrary, I haven't done anything to him, yet. I did however in no uncertain terms tell him I caught wind of his unprofessional behavior the other night and told him to represent the company properly or he would be put on suspension because unlike his former employer I do not take kindly to such things. I am a one warning only sort of a man and if he steps out of line again I'll either fire him on the spot or downgrade him to a valet for one of the smaller office buildings. I can replace him at any time, and he needs to be made aware of it before he goes snooping around my affairs again."

As cruel as it sounds, that sounded like punishment enough for being a prick so I added, "Well I'm proud of you for letting him off with ANY kind of warning since not everyone is so lucky when they mess with you. I'm still surprised that I managed to handle that guy! It was like talking to the old you and I gotta tell you, I prefer how you are now."

Taken aback by my honesty, Vlad smiled warmly and said, "I'm glad too actually because now you're here with me and I don't have to blackmail you or threaten someone to accomplish it. So I suppose being the _'good guy'_ in your books has its perks. At any rate, we should get going before it gets too late otherwise lunch hour will begin and they won't have the breakfast menu available at the bakery I recommended to you earlier. After that, we'll go visit a few of the places you specified before lunch and I'll need to make a few calls. Then we'll do some shopping and come back here since we can do the rest over the next couple of days before the day trip I have planned out. We can do some driving today but it will probably be easiest to save that for the last day of our trip since the place we're going to is a little more out of the way."

"Sounds good to me! I'm starving!" I grinned, rushing out the door ahead of him towards the garage since he said it'd be on the left down the hall, excited to see which one of his many sports cars Vlad would be driving us around golly old England in. Which compared to my dad's crazy driving was going to be smooth sailing. And with any luck, soon I'd get to drive it too! What could be better than that?


	65. Freedom

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (3/14/2019):** Again, sorry this took so long but things have been hectic lately and every time I sat down to write something came up. Still, this chapter is 12 pages worth to make up for the long wait so yeah...enjoy!

* * *

Chapter 64: Freedom

(Chapter inspired by May I by Trading Yesterday)

* * *

Vlad's POV

Daniel was like a child at Christmas as we drove into this city in the sports car of his choice, a Le Mans BMW E92 M3 because it was blue of course. And we both agreed it was less flashy than my other cars so it was an easy choice. At first though, he was confused as to why on earth we were driving on the opposite side of the road until I explained that the traffic laws were different here. Even so, I couldn't keep the smile off my face because despite Daniel's momentary confusion, his eyes were shining in a way I'd seen only fleeting glimpses of before since he was still so guarded around me at first. And I was amused by our little exchange this morning as well because it really had been awhile since either of us completely let our guard down...

It was relief actually, mainly because I'd been hoping for this outcome since I wanted Daniel to regain some confidence and to realize things weren't so hopeless as he thought they were and I would protect him only when he couldn't protect himself. Daniel really was much stronger and more capable then he believed, truly, and it pleased me greatly to see that he had realized this too. It would make what we needed to do once we returned that much easier.

For now though, my only goal here was to spoil him rotten and enjoy as much as what England had to offer as humanly possible with my little badger. And I'm sure Jasmine would be ecstatic to hear about this since the last time they spoke Daniel was having a bout of depression from yet another nightmare. They'd grown worse ever since the incident with the Fright Knight and that Shade Striker, the former of which I was investigating, but I had a feeling this trip was going to do wonders for his mood and it already has just after last night. Heavens knows it helped me as well.

Which reminds me, funny how we could effortlessly make jabs at each other now. Especially about how ruthless I used to be and in some cases still am at least in the business world, and Daniel even called me out on going too far with my side of those cruel pranks we pulled on one another after he sought some form of justice for what happened when I sent Danielle and his other clones after him. What surprised me though, was how easy it'd been for us to apologize for our actions back then and how for me it lifted this unknown weight on my shoulders knowing that Daniel had forgiven me for doing something so horrible. I suppose this was due to how much closer we've become and how much Daniel looked up to me, which was more than he would have ever dared to before given our past. And that, to me, was a sign that my efforts on his behalf were finally starting to pay off.

* * *

After making it to the cafe' in record time since I knew all the best routes to take by heart, Daniel was so animated and energetic that it was difficult for him to reign it in. I know it might sound silly, but even now Daniel wasn't used to eating such high-quality food so I made a mental note of what he liked so I could have my personal chef replicate some of these dishes back home. Thankfully Daniel was already on a much better diet now without sacrificing the luxury of taste and it was clearly starting to show since he'd filled out quite a lot and finally looked much more his age. In fact I could swear he'd grown at least an inch or so since this all started.

The ladies seemed to notice him too due to how well dressed my little badger was because I caught a few young ladies staring at us as we waited in line to order our meal and find a place to sit. They didn't know who I was of course because as I said before, a simple wardrobe change could do wonders to throw people off. And thanks to my dear Evelina's impeccable taste in clothes and know how with fashion, Daniel looked sharp as a tack. I was brimming with pride too because we really did look like father and son, but I didn't want to shatter the illusion by telling Daniel this. Either way, as indifferent as I usually was to the attention of women my age due to my fixation on Maddie before all this, as I said, Daniel's good mood was contagious so I found myself smiling coyly back at a few admirers just to see them become all flustered and look away bashfully. It was quite amusing.

Once we finished breakfast Daniel and I began visiting some of the iconic locations nearby and he was enjoying himself so much that at first he hardly bothered to take pictures. Since I didn't want him to feel guilty later on once he realized he hadn't taken any to share I reminded Daniel that he was allowed to take some for his sister and so he took a few of the most iconic places or things that caught his eye. Half the fun of visiting London was walking down the busy streets so Daniel and I did just that, though sometimes the crowds were too close together in which case both of us made parts of our bodies intangible but not invisible and there was no way anyone just trying to get by would notice unless they were looking for it...

Whenever a shop caught his eye the two of us would go inside to peruse what they had to offer and to simplify things I gave Daniel some spending money ahead of time, although he did need some help a few times with figuring out how much something was in Euro's as opposed to American dollar bills. Sad to say, but the boy really was awful at math. With any luck though, now that things seemed to be going better I could try again to arrange for a private tutor who could help him vastly improve those skills. And speaking of skills, I was surprised though once we decided where to go for lunch later in the day and stepped back into the car that Daniel decided to ask about training with his ghost powers again once we got back home after the disaster that happened last time...

And I voiced these concerns too, "Daniel at this point it might be best to wait a little longer until we've dealt with the matter at hand, but I greatly admire your enthusiasm. Then again I suppose if we start slower this time and only work on strengthening your basic powers much like how we built up your muscles by weight training I don't see the harm. Starting your training again right away once we return home might be a stretch because you're going to feel jet lagged once we do. Trust me on this. Although," I smiled mischievously, "Speaking of using your powers, I was thinking of taking you on a...different sort of tour if you're feeling up to it."

Catching my emphasis on the word _'up,'_ Daniel smirked and said, "Dude, either I'm starting to get way too good at catching your subtle hints or you're not even trying anymore. But yeah! I am totally up for a quick flight after lunch. Maybe even a little race? First one to make it to Big Ben wins?"

"Don't get cocky, little badger, I'm still much faster then you are even without teleporting myself. Especially when I don't hold back," I laughed, making another turn down the road.

"Is that a challenge fruitloop?" Daniel asked haughtily.

Glancing in his direction when we stopped at a light I replied equally as impetuously, "It's only a challenge if I thought there was any chance I might lose, little badger."

* * *

Danny's POV

I was probably going to kick myself in the butt later for letting myself get so carried away but right now, I didn't care. I was having a blast and Vlad was all too happy to hand me the reigns and he basically let me do whatever I wanted. It's not like I went crazy or anything but it was nice to actually have some spending money in my pocket, not to mention plenty of time to look around. And at first I'll admit the so-called _'small'_ amount Vlad gave me as soon as we left the villa intimidated me a bit since I've never so much as held anything above maybe a $50 bill in my life until Vlad pointed out that amount was merely pocket change to him and besides, he asked me to consider it as belated birthday money which helped me feel less guilty about spending it, but it was still weird since I didn't feel like I'd earned it.

I had to remind myself too that Vlad's already been to this country who knows how many times on some business trip so he knew what he was talking about as far as what the good places to eat were and that the biggest charm of London were all the different specialty shops, cafe's, restaurants, and so on. Maybe that's why I was so surprised he didn't take me anywhere too glitzy but then again you could argue there was a chance or running into other people who attended the party last night who were still hanging around. Still, I guess it made him happy just to have someone to share the experience with on a personal level for once instead of business so once I realized that I relaxed and went ahead and allowed myself to make the most of our time here together. Because who knows when or if we would ever get the chance to do this again...

This might surprise you to hear, but I still haven't given up hope about going home someday. Once things cool down enough, I'll keep hoping that my parents will be so happy to see me they'd forget all about making sure I was ghost-free and then I could be with my family again and not have to hide anymore after all of this was over. And if that didn't work, maybe after Jazz graduated high-school we could, I dunno, rent an apartment together or something since I'd be old enough to start working. And I'm sure Vlad would help us out too if that's the direction I decided to go in. Heck, he might be open to letting Jazz live in one of his summer homes or something rent-free while she attended whatever college accepted her. We'd just have to wait and see.

Ever since last night though, because I felt so restless anyways I...started to really think about the possibility of actually HAVING a future ahead of me now which was a scary thought, but at the same time, liberating. Maybe I was being too optimistic but I was started to believe that maybe we DID stand a chance against Dan; maybe I wasn't a completely lost cause; and maybe now, unlike before, Vlad seriously only had my best interests at heart and I could see that he was that much closer being like that future version of Vlad I met who had finally gotten over his stupid need for revenge on my dad and his pointless crush on my mom, so maybe it was about time I started trusting him more.

I mean sure, the whole Skulker thing really pissed me off, but if what Vlad said before we decided to go on this trip was true, the guy DID sort of invite himself in unannounced at a bad time when Vlad had bigger things to worry about such as the Fright Knight possibly turning on him and the possibility of catching Dan red handed and figuring out who he really was. Well luckily for me, Dan's still trapped in the thermos and according to Clockwork he was somewhere no one could get in or out of easily, so hopefully that meant I still had time to sort out my feelings and figure out if it was a good idea to trust Vlad with everything or if he was better off never knowing the truth...

I just, didn't want him to start looking at me differently, you know? I mean we were FINALLY getting along and we're on the same side so telling him I had an evil self who was a billion times worse than he ever was even at his lowest point was something I didn't want to deal with. It was bad enough my parents still saw my ghost half as some kind of inhuman monster bent on hurting people. But Vlad was different. He didn't seem to care what I did to anyone else, good or bad, as long as I didn't keep hurting myself anymore by pushing myself too hard to save others when I was barely holding on myself.

Even before this all started I was close to hitting my breaking point. Kinda like that time Young Blood kept harassing me and no one else could see him, not even Jazz until I made her act her age by tormenting her favorite childhood toy, Bearbert Einstein, in front of her. I was a total mess. So it was weird when I felt the exact same way before my parents attacked me, only a hundred times worse because of other things. The pressure on all sides from Vlad, my sister, my friends, my parents, my teachers, heck even other ghosts, was slowing wearing me down until I thought I would finally snap and start screaming as loudly as I could, possibly even using my Ghostly Wail, and started praying to whoever or whatever would bother listening to me to ask them to make it all stop and give me a few days of peace and quiet.

Honestly I probably would have given up my left hand in exchange for a hook like the future Box Ghost had to just have a SINGLE normal day where I got enough sleep the night before, had time for breakfast, made it to school on time, had time to study and hang out with my friends, have dinner, and go to bed without any ghost attacks. Since I've started living with Vlad though I'd gotten some of those things at least, the Skulker incident aside. Things weren't perfect by any means but they were still way better than before.

I know that was the whole point of going with him on this trip, well I mean aside from Vlad not wanting to risk leaving me alone near an active ghost portal with the threat from Dan still looming over my head. The thrill of exploring the streets again, surrounded by the hustle and bustle of people playing tourist just like we were, by the ones who lived there too going about their daily lives knowing there weren't any ghosts for me to fight was a dream come true! People I could handle, even snooty ones like Issac Traven and Ivy. Heck, I even noticed some girls at the cafe' we went to breakfast giggling and ogling at us, saying that Vlad and I looked hot behind their hands in hushed voices which was kind of an awesome feeling.

The last time ANY girls paid that much attention to me was back when Tucker and I were chosen to judge who'd be crowned queen of this beauty pageant that turned out to actually be just a ploy to trick me into deciding who'd make the best human bride for Dora's older brother, Prince Aragon, who had the same power as she did to change into a giant ghost dragon. In fact his dragon form sort of reminded me of Maleficent from the movie Sleeping Beauty. I remember how Jazz made me watch it with her when we were kids and the only part I liked was when Prince Philip or whatever his name escaped the castle and cut down the thorns in his way with his sword to reach the princess and then fought the evil sorceress in dragon form. The rest was pretty boring to me and Jazz kept pointing out all the plot holes like how they should have had her wait an extra day before going home to break the curse that would put the princess into a deep sleep and so on. Typical Jazz, always psychoanalyzing people even as a kid and thinking of ways to fix them. I suppose it worked in our favor that time she helped me figure out Freakshow's weakness to ghost envy during summer break a few months back, which almost makes me wonder if Vlad was ever affected by all that when Freakshow changed reality to-

"Daniel, for goodness sake pay attention!" Vlad scolded, stopping me before I accidentally stepped out into the street before the light changed since I'd been so wrapped up in my own thoughts. After that, Vlad pulled me aside and asked, "Are you alright?"

I nodded, feeling stupid for not paying attention, although I suppose by then I was getting tired from all the walking around we'd been doing. Not to mention we just finished lunch and I was stuffed so maybe it was time to call it a day if it was that easy for me to get zoned out enough not to sense the danger I was putting myself in. I felt bad for making him worry about me by acting stupid and not watching where I was going, but at the same time, it suddenly struck me that...Vlad just protected me. Sure it was only from being hit by a double-decker bus and not a ghost out for my ectoplasm, but still the fact that Vlad was paying enough attention to me to make sure I didn't hurt myself really made me feel like for once in my life, even before getting ghost powers, I wasn't invisible anymore.

Someone had my back and was there to support me from now on.

That moment of clarity hit me like a ton of bricks and made my heart swell with this indescribable feeling of...importance? No, that wasn't it. It was much simpler than that. I felt like I was being taken care of for once by someone besides my sister and maybe it's been too long since I felt that way but for a minute or two I just stood there looking at Vlad like he was an entirely different person.

Who knows, maybe I was in shock from being jerked back out of the street by Vlad but...this strange calmness settled over me and I replied, "Yeah I'm fine."

After making sure I actually WAS alright, Vlad cleared his throat and sighed, "I see. Well in either case that was a close call so I think that's enough excitement for one day. We still have a few more days of vacation left. And seeing as you didn't get much sleep last night I should have taken that into account when planning out our day. I suppose we both got a little carried away in the heat of the moment."

I nodded and sheepishly followed him back to the car, not realizing how tired I was until I sat down and buckled myself in. It was a bit of a drive back to the villa anyways since it was a little out of the way so after apologizing for scaring him like that, I leaned my head against the window and closed my eyes, still smiling softly to myself because I can't remember the last time I ever felt so free. And Vlad did have a fair point, I really did overdo it today, but I couldn't help myself...

I was having so much fun and I felt like I could be true to myself around Vlad as the only other half-ghost AND as a person without keeping some things to myself or holding off from showing off my powers too much in front of my friends because they'd get mad or scold me for _'using them for the wrong reasons.'_ Vlad on the other hand, embraced that part of who I was and even encouraged it as long as we were smart about it. That's why I felt adventurous enough to challenge him to a race flying over London for the fun of it.

So yeah, I'll admit I did get carried away. Especially considering the fact that I probably ALREADY had jet-lag just from the trip here. But still, coming out here with Vlad was totally worth it. And today was only the first day of our real vacation so I didn't HAVE to do everything in a one day. I could take my time and enjoy this feeling of freedom for as long as it lasted before it was back to his mansion and back to hiding from the rest of the world...

And from Dan.

* * *

The next few days we roughly spent doing the same thing. You know, like walking around the city, going out to drive or to fly around which was great for taking pictures for Jazz from an aerial view, going out to eat, visiting famous landmarks, and shopping. After the first day though we planned out the days better so I wouldn't get as worn out so we actually managed to do more things. And I know this'll sound selfish but I thought about getting a souvenir for Tucker and Sam until I realized they might take it the wrong way like I was living it up instead of coming home so I decided against it. I decided not to tell them about the trip either and hoped Jazz could keep it to herself because I didn't want to deal with their drama right now.

I felt guilty for keeping so much from them when we used to share all of our secrets but lately I've realized just how draining it was to constantly have to hide part of who I was even from them to keep everyone happy. Like, once I embraced that I was half-ghost I had to hide it from my parents for obvious reasons and everyone else too so when I couldn't even enjoy showing off around them it felt like they didn't fully accept that part of me and they expected way too much.

Anyways, the point is, we were friends but I was done bending backward for everyone. If this trip has taught me anything it's that it's ok to take care of myself and do things for myself without it being a bad thing. It wasn't like I was going overboard or hurting anyone. I guess I needed to learn that to some people, even the ones I cared about, I'd never be good enough and it was unhealthy trying to live up to all of these unrealistic expectations, Vlad's included once upon a time.

That's why this vacation was turning out so well. Vlad had confidence and high hopes for me but he wasn't pressuring me into doing anything I didn't want to, at least not yet. Even then though the reason Vlad wanted to know about Dan was because he was trying to help me by getting rid of him. And yeah, with him gone I could finally breathe again but more than that I just felt...loved. A weird thought I know, Vlad genuinely loving anyone, but once he got over the thing with my mom and started treating me better I started to feel like I'd gotten to know the real Vlad behind all the schemes and cruel remarks.

He really did see me as a son and while that part was still weird to me I could at least see Vlad as a mentor now and heck, even a friend. When he wasn't putting on airs or bossing me around it was easy for us to get along and it wasn't just because of our ghost powers; though that was a definite perk. It wasn't even just like I was seeing the future Vlad who cried tears of joy when he saw some of my human half survived even in a dream, it was like I saw the cool guy I looked up to back during the reunion only Vlad was genuinely happy to have me around and his smile wasn't hiding anything sinister. I really think this was the Vlad who became friends with my parents despite losing his own just before college who felt motivated to make a difference and be a part of something even if that something was just helping me through all of this.

Vlad told me once before that while he didn't care about saving the world, he wanted to save ME. And THAT, my friends, is something I never thought I'd ever say, let alone feel happy about. But I was. I was happy and I felt safe around him so lets keep hoping that won't come bite me in the butt any time soon.

* * *

Vlad's POV

It was a shame that our vacation was nearing its end. Even I found myself feeling disappointed by that revelation as soon as I woke up on the morning of our final day. Aside from getting a little too excitable the first day we went out, Daniel's joy was contagious and I couldn't be happier for him. I haven't seen him look this alive and unburdened since we first met at my college reunion. Now here was a young man who still had hope for a better future and I'll be damned if I let anyone take that feeling from him again. Neither his friends, parents, nor any ghost foolish enough to face our combined power would trouble him again because this was the Daniel I wanted for a son. He'd been buried beneath everyone's expectations smothering him when on his own Daniel was a brilliant, strong, and genuinely caring young man.

As much as I enjoyed spoiling him though I knew once we returned there would be some things for us to talk about now that he was in a better mood and I could tell both of us were thinking about that. Daniel looked conflicted and yet there was this confidence back in his eyes that made me think I may have finally won his trust enough to learn the entire story. I told him once before, nothing could change how I felt about him. Nothing. And it was a relief he was finally starting to believe that because I also think part of his reservations came from the fear that we would somehow go back to being enemies and I would use what I've learned against him. Sadly, the old me might have because I'd grown that desperate to bring Daniel into my life that I'd gone so far as to clone him not once, but numerous times though most of them failed and faded into ectoplasm. So either way this proved one thing...

We both wanted something between us that was real.

Which reminds me, since today was the last day of our trip I made arrangements for us to travel to Ireland by helicopter since I would rather avoid any unnecessary socializing with the locals on such a small vessel. I had boats of my own of course but that would draw attention too and truth be told, while Daniel had clearly enjoyed himself in the busy streets of London the past few days, I on the other hand, had had quite enough involvement with the everyday rabble. I didn't regret doing this of course but due to my status as the richest man in the world there was always the off chance someone would recognize me so I was constantly aware of this while keeping an eye on Daniel as well as looking out for any potential threats that would jeopardize this entire venture of ours.

I let none of this show in front of Daniel mind you, but a few particularly draining moments when we were caught in a long line or a bus was delayed I felt myself frown and he, being the ever attentive boy he was, asked if I was doing alright. I tried to assure him I was fine but Daniel would have none of it and said he wanted me to have a good time too and even suggested we go home once. I was shocked by how adamant he'd been about it which internally made my heart swell knowing my little badger was concerned about me.

It was impossible to stay agitated after that so I said I'd be fine once we found somewhere to take a break. He seemed to buy that and since we had forgone the race we jokingly challenged one another to, Daniel led me to a secluded area and transformed then flew off in the direction of Big Ben. We perched under one of the tiers near the top and it was a relief to have a bit of peace and quiet. That is, until the bell tolled and startled us both and we started laughing. It was a wonderful heartfelt moment between us that filled me with a joy that rivaled Daniel's. It was also a relief that he didn't snap into battle mode at the sudden noise like he may have before.

Either way, today I had something special planned for my little badger so I kept today's plans a secret aside from taking a day trip somewhere a little more out of the way to end what has otherwise been a very profitable trip. True, part of it was business, but the way Daniel's eyes seemed full of stars once again made everything I'd done to make this happen worth it. I'd given him a taste of freedom and the sort of life I could give him that didn't always have to be about enjoying all of this wealth I've accumulated...

It was the small moments that meant the world to both of us and let me tell you, I haven't felt this way in years, like I could be the Vlad Masters I was back when the world still held some hope for me to live up to my parents legacy and lived my life to the fullest and one day start a family of my own. True some of my ideals became twisted and contorted by hatred, but...Daniel was everything I ever wanted in a son. In fact, it was like looking in a mirror into my past and seeing the boy whose smile would only get bigger when my father walked through the door and ruffled my hair before kissing my mother's flour-dusted cheek from a busy day of baking.

The need I had to protect Daniel from now on was nothing short of ungodly in that I would level cities if someone took him from me or made him cry ever again, yet because I didn't want to be the villain in his eyes I would refrain from doing so and search heaven and earth and the deepest reaches of the Ghost Zone to bring him home safely. Because to me, he was home, I was his family now, and truth be told I haven't been as dedicated to sorting things out with his parents as I should have been but the threat looming from this Dan creature was much more important. Still, all that could wait just a little longer. For just a little longer I had Daniel's attention all to myself and I wasn't about to shatter the illusion that he was and would forever be mine. Too bad I'm not the only one who has taken such an interest in his future...

* * *

Dan's POV

As much as I would like to say that breaking free of that blasted thermos was gratifying and resulted in an amusing battle between myself and Clockwork, I'm afraid nothing spectacular happened. The thermos rocked to and fro, rumbling as I unleashed my power and it exploded moments later in a blinding flash of ectoplasmic energy. And once I was free, I landed on the floor with a flourish of my cape and looked around, fully expecting Clockwork to rush in at any moment to try and stop me from escaping his tower. But to my surprise, I was met with silence. At least, besides the infernal ticking of hundreds of clocks and grinding gears that I'd grown accustomed to over the past several months.

In fact, Clockwork was nowhere to be seen which struck me as odd since he must've known this was coming. He WAS the Master of Time after all. Well, even if Clockwork was here somewhere, he wasn't making any obvious moves to stop me. Not that he could. Because shortly after I knocked Jazz unconscious so I could pose as her brother at school the next day, I fused one of Clockwork's time medallions inside of me for the added protection similar to how I did the same thing to stop Danny from removing it and returning to his timeline to change our past. And thanks to that, I was essentially immune to most of Clockwork's little time tricks. The only difference between doing it to myself and doing it to Danny was that I could still remove it at any time, but once my new future was secured there would be no need for me to keep it around anymore or Clockwork for that matter.

So I suppose I should make sure I set some time aside once I had Danny under my control to come back here and dispose of Clockwork once and for all so that he could never interfere with my affairs again. But for now, I had more pressing matters to attend to before this opportunity slipped between my fingers to catch Danny and that cheese-head completely off guard.

As I dusted myself off and peered into one of Clockwork's time portals, I commented with some amusement, "You'd think being trapped in a thermos meant to trap ghosts wouldn't leave you dusty, but even I find myself surprised. Then again, they weren't exactly built to hold one indefinitely so it's almost impressive it managed to keep ME contained for as long as it did."

It didn't take long to find out what my past self was currently up to since Clockwork conveniently left his time portals on moments from Danny's new timeline which I'd only seen glimpses of through our connection. It was almost as if he WANTED me to see this. And in one of those moments, I saw Danny take down some hotshot in a suit down a few notches and a smirk spread across my face seeing him take charge of the situation and make some threats of his own in return. Nice to see Danny was finally making something of himself now and putting lesser people in their place who thought they could take advantage of him like before when he was too soft and let people walk all over him. Of course, I also had big plans for him and our new future, but it was satisfying to see that he was already slowly catching onto the fact that wasting our time _'being nice'_ and _'helping others'_ was just that, a waste of time and energy.

Hmph, I guess Vlad was useful for something after all besides distracting Danny so that he wouldn't suspect I was about to return since I haven't been messing with him as much lately. As entertaining as it was to directly influence Danny's nightmares here and there, his active imagination usually did most of the work for me putting him on edge. Besides, for my plan to work I needed him in a good mood right now so that when I crushed his spirit, it would completely shatter the faith he had in humanity, both in himself and others, and especially Vlad. And once I made sure nothing stood in our way this time, Vlad was going to meet the same fate as Clockwork and partake of my vengeance as soon as I've taken everything I need from them. But it looks like Vlad still has his uses. For now at any rate...

Oh yes, they weren't going to know what hit them, and this world was going to fall harder and faster than ever before which meant more fun for me. My other enemies would soon fall as well once the new powers Danny had gained since our last battle became mine as well. I find it rather funny that I never knew we originally had an ice-core, not that it mattered anymore since the fusion between Vlad's ghost-half and mine gave me a fire core and I doubt that would change once I absorbed his power again. Regardless, this was my chance to catch them unprepared and I wasn't about to waste it biding my time anymore.

I was done waiting.

My ideal future was within reach now and the power I had to gain in this timeline was so close I could almost taste it. Besides, I couldn't let my past self have all the fun and become too competent now could I? He surprised me before when his power briefly surpassed mine when Danny figured out how to use our Ghostly Wail much sooner than I had, but I was prepared for anything this time. I also made sure I used this telepathic connection between us to my advantage. Namely by studying his new powers and even overshadowing his mind when our thoughts and feelings aligned to see how strong my hold over him was. And yes, now it would appear Danny fell for that cheese-head's little act of turning over a new leaf and had become his little protege' after all so it was up to me to bring him to his senses to save him from making the worse mistake of his afterlife by learning that lesson the hard way like I did.

Plasmius would never change.

He would always be a selfish prick and the sooner Danny learned that the better. There was no doubt in my mind that Vlad had little to no intention of ever smoothing things over with his parents, which worked in my favor but it still disgusted me to see Danny falling for his ploy so easily. Vlad was already brainwashing him into accepting things as they were now so that Danny would forget about the past and everything he put us through. But even if Danny was naive enough to forgive and forget, I couldn't. That man didn't deserve anyone's forgiveness in this or any timeline and I wanted him gone. The human half anyway.

No, since Vlad managed to elude me in our timeline for over ten years I wasn't about to let him get away this time and I going to make him pay for the pain an humiliation he put me through with his life. Of course, if I could manage it I planned to have a little fun with him first since this Vlad still had his powers intact and it would be interesting to see if I surpassed him in power that it took him twenty years to master while it had only taken me ten once I was freed from the constraints of my frail human half holding me back. Still, once this was over, I was going to make sure I eliminated anything and everyone who stood in my way. Starting with Danny's parents and Valerie. His sister and little friends didn't stand a chance against me even with all their little gadgets stolen from Fenton Works, so I could take my sweet time torturing them once the other nuisances were dealt with. And I couldn't wait to see the anguish on Danny's face once I freed us both from their preconceived notions of what and who we were meant to be since it was not for them to decide. It was ours. Well, mine anyway but you get the idea.

Seeing Danny's face come into focus again when one of the viewing portals showed me an image of him driving somewhere with Vlad with a stupid grin on his face, a wicked one curled on my lips as I stated, "Time's up, Danny."


	66. Karma

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

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 **Note (3/24/2019):** Just real quick, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who reviewed recently, especially _"ArtemissSage"_ and _"lilypup345"_ in particular. It's nice to know my hard work is paying off and once this story ends people will still appreciate it. I'm kinda sad that's going to be happening pretty soon but like I said, I have a sequel planned for this story where you guys will get to see a bit of the aftermath of what happens towards the end of this story and it'll mostly center around Valerie and Dani who also need some closure after what Vlad put them both through, the prior unknowingly, but still! Not sure what to name it yet but I'll be sure to announce it in the final chapter of this story so you know what to look out for which I sincerely hope gets the same amount of attention as this story since its not often we see those two also get to find redemption and the attention they deserve since the show never did them justice, especially Dani who I see as full of untapped story potential! Anyways I've rambled on long enough! You're in for another special treat though so stay tuned! Things are about to get intense in the coming chapters!

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Chapter 65: Karma

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Vlad's POV

"Daniel I don't see why you were ever worried about getting your driving license, you're a natural," I mused thoughtfully as we drove along one of the deserted roads behind the villa on our way to the small clearing where my private helicopter was.

The clearing was located a little out of the way I know but that usually wasn't a problem for me since I could just teleport there. In this case, however, since we were traveling there normally it was actually a good thing since I promised to let him drive some more this morning seeing as Daniel practically leapt at any chance to do so this entire trip. And I was more than happy to oblige too since Daniel already had lighting fast reflexes. On that note however, since I didn't want to risk anyone recognizing this particular vehicle while we spent our last day of this vacation in Ireland, I had a rental car ready and waiting for us in Dublin that I planned to let Daniel drive as much as he wanted today. I was impressed by how Daniel picked up on the rules of the road anyway, even in a foreign country, and compared to the other things he's had to deal with this was nothing to him.

With a shrug Daniel explained with a slightly troubled look on his face, "Oh, after driving the Spector Speeder so many times through the Ghost Zone, I wasn't worried about learning how to drive an actual car itself. I was more worried about it being my dad who taught me the rules of the road since he hardly follows them anyway. I mean, you've SEEN how bad he gets AND on top of that, having to learn all that in the Fenton Assault Vehicle where you can't tell what button rolls down the window and which one activates the closest Ectogun trigger, yeah, that's scary even for me. Like seriously, if you guys used to carpool back in college I can imagine my dad was probably always this bad. Mom's a better driver of course, but it's like being the most sane person in a room of crazy people, so even she can get reckless sometimes when she gets excited about hunting down some ghost. That's why I wasn't looking forward to learning from her either until Jazz finally offered to do it in her spare time. I remember this one time when mom took us out for ice-cream and she thought she saw a ghost so she swerved and crossed over two lanes of traffic and Jazz's mint ice-cream hit me square in the face while my fudgesicle landed on the floor and both of us started crying because we'd lost our ice-cream plus we were kinda terrified she was going so fast and we didn't know why at the time. Turns out it was only a green balloon, but you get the picture. Mom felt really bad though about making us cry so to make up for it, on the way back home she bought us both a toy from the store. I got a toy spaceship and if I remember right that's how Jazz ended up with Bearbert."

Setting aside my disgust once again at his parents putting them in danger at such a young age I raised an eyebrow and asked, "Bearbert?"

"Yep, Bearbert Einstien," Daniel clarified before getting into other stories whenever they popped into his head about how after facing the dangers of the Ghost Zone, this was nothing. Besides, if he ever got into an accident Daniel was sure his survival instincts would kick in an he'd turn intangible before getting hurt too badly and he was more durable than a normal human anyway.

What actually scared him was the thought of having to see a doctor afterward even if his injuries weren't serious and of them finding something unusual about his blood due to him being half-ghost. I could relate to that fear, and that's why I took the time to explain more about how I learned to treat my own wounds thanks to my various degrees and doctorates I earned over the years to ease his concerns of having to deal with that from this moment on. Since I originally planned to become a genetic engineer, which of course we talked about once before while I was treating his injuries, it only seemed right that I tell him if he ever had any health concerns he could come straight to me since I've experienced many of those changes myself. At least as far as my ghost half was concerned.

But still, I was surprised by how nice it felt to confide in Daniel as well and share a little more about my past in the medical field in a more casual setting when his life wasn't hanging in the balance. That, and I never thought I'd see the day Daniel openly complained about his parents to me with such ease, let alone his father, without feeling worried I would go out of my way to insult the man. There was hardly any need to waste my energy on that anymore though since the joy I felt just having Daniel with me surpassed my hatred of Jack Fenton.

That's when it suddenly occurred to me that Daniel looked so relaxed while we drove and it was so easy for him could keep his attention on the road that it was almost as if Daniel had already been driving for years. It was strange seeing how much my little badger has matured in such a short time, but realistically I knew he still had a long way to go before Daniel could move past everything he's been put through this year alone. However, the fact that Daniel felt so comfortable talking to me so openly like this was a stark contrast to how things used to be between us. Because even when I was giving him genuine advice during one of our many battles Daniel flat out refused to listen to me and spare himself the suffering later and it pained me seeing him constantly create more trouble for himself than he needed to. To be fair though, as I said, Daniel has stared death in the face so many times it was a miracle he hadn't long since collapsed in on himself long before now even before this future enemy began tormenting him.

That, to me, proved his strength of character.

"Vlad? You ok?" Daniel asked, noticing how quiet I'd become while lost in thought.

Smiling, I turned and answered honestly, "It's nothing. I'm just glad you're here with me."

Gripping the steering wheel a little tighter and blushing, Danny tried to cover his embarrassment over my blunt declaration by snickering, "Geez Vlad, don't be so melodramatic! It's not like I had a choice! You bribed me with good food and driving lessons!" His gaze softening though, Daniel smiled and added, "But for what it's worth I guess there is some good in you after all, something that makes you human, and I'm glad I get to see it for real this time..."

"This time?" I asked, completely forgetting about the version of me Daniel met in that terrible future who helped him return to our time.

He nodded, "Yeah, it's nice to see that you can care about me this much without having to lose everything else first. I just...ok now it's my turn to get all sappy but, I'm glad I made the right choice about giving you a chance. After making so many wrong ones I wasn't sure if I knew the difference anymore. So I've decided that when we get back I want to try trusting you a bit more. I don't see any reason not to at this point since you backed up all of your promises by actually DOING something about it. Now it's my turn."

"Daniel, I-" I beamed, delighted to hear that when-

"Oh, looks like we're here. I can see the helicopter!" Daniel pointed out, his boyish excitement returning in full force.

I was still processing what exactly just happened since Daniel had caught me off guard by telling me he trusted me and he was HAPPY I was around too so a million thoughts began bouncing around in my brain as those words sunk in. Oh yes, my plan was working perfectly and Daniel was opening up to me! I mean, he has been opening up little by little but for Daniel himself to say he was willing to try sharing his darkest secret with me was nothing short of a miracle since I usually had to be the one to coax that information out of him. So even if it took some time to learn the entire truth about that alternate future and his connection to this Dan creature, we were making progress. But for now, I could think of no better way to celebrate this victory than to share one last heartfelt experience with Daniel and end our adventure together on a high note.

Because while Daniel might not know this, I would have given up everything I would have gained on this trip had I gone by myself to the dinner party JUST to see that smile on his face for the second time. The smile of warm admiration I'd seen on the face of a fourteen-year-old boy only a year ago that I could have never imagined would become the new center of my world...

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Danny's POV

I'm not gonna lie, telling Vlad I trusted him was a lot harder then I made it sound and it still left nervous butterflies in my stomach. But I felt like I owed it to both of us to put in as much effort to trust in him as he was to treat me better and take my problems seriously. I did feel a little better after actually telling him how I felt in person instead of just thinking about it and waiting for the right time which never seemed to happen since I either chickened out or was having too much fun and didn't want to talk about it just yet.

Since today was our last day though I wanted to get that off of my chest and tell him I was willing to work with him to figure out how to deal with Dan and tell Vlad more about what happened. I haven't reached the point where I can tell him the whole truth but this is a start. And considering everything Vlad put me through, trusting him at all was kind of a big deal. There was only so much he could do to make up for some of it but as long as we were both trying that's what mattered...

Anyways, after we parked the car and stepped into the helicopter, when my ghost sense went off I was a little confused at first until Vlad pointed out that our pilot was the same guy -or ghost actually- that picked my mom and I up in Amity and flew us to the Rockies to drop us near Vlad's vacation home there. Normally this would have sent me into orbit or I'd be stressed out the whole time thinking Vlad was up to something but I knew that wasn't the case and pretty much ignored him. It wasn't like he'd pull anything with his boss around anyway even if this was one of the ghosts that hated my guts but from what I could tell this ghost just did as he was told and didn't care otherwise. As long as Vlad let him fly his fancy planes and jets and helicopters this ghost was more than happy to oblige and do his job.

Thankfully the weather was nice and since we didn't have to wait for a ferry our trip was cut in half and Vlad finally told me where we were going and that because there would be fewer people around we could use our powers more to save time and take in the sights. I was already enjoying the view from the helicopter where everything looked so green and alive even from here and some areas were covered in a dense fog or low hanging clouds. I took a few pictures to send to Jazz before just sitting silently across from Vlad who seemed to be in his own little world. I guess I'd already made his day telling him I wanted to trust him more so he just wouldn't stop smiling. It felt good knowing I could make him smile like that, a real smile that made me feel better about my choice to give him a chance.

By the time we arrived and picked up the rental car, a renewed sense of excitement filled my chest and the two of us started making our way to the nearest place to eat so that we'd have plenty of energy before lunch. After that, we went to all sorts of places together. We went everywhere from Saint Patrick's Cathedral to several of Ireland's most famous natural landmarks on foot once we were done hanging around Dublin which was oddly enough my favorite part. For one thing, some of those old buildings had ghosts hanging around which made me a little anxious at first since there were more than one, but they weren't doing any harm and most people didn't notice them for obvious reasons so Vlad told me not to worry about them. Still, as much as I enjoyed the fact that Vlad was letting me drive I wanted to walk around and stretch my legs a bit so the hiking was a good work out. At one point we even got to ride horses which I gotta say was a totally different experience. I totally felt like someone from medieval times again like when we went to Dora's castle to rescue Sam from Prince Aragon when one of the castles we visited earlier came back into view, and I smiled remembering how Vlad told me before that his many trips to places like this inspired him to have his own castle built in Wisconsin. He was always into old ghost lore and stuff like that so being into old rickety castles sounded just like him.

We didn't ride for long though and it was mostly just to enjoy riding across the open fields for a bit before heading to our next destination which was pretty much back to the car after returning the horses to the stables we rented them from. That's where I found out Vlad used to own a few horses from here and eventually he sold them to a client of his who seemed to appreciate them more. In fact, the stallion Vlad wound up riding, a black horse named Shavi that looked like he came straight out of the movie Sleepy Hollow was one of the colts bred from the same horses he sold. Go figure! Anyways, I wound up riding a white horse that was named, and I quote, Prizrak, which means _'ghost'_ in Russian according to Vlad, which was funny since I was a half-ghost riding a horse named after one.

I let Vlad do the driving after that for a while since he already knew where we were going and we ended up taking a lunch break in this forest where, again, the trees looked like something out of a fantasy novel or a horror because the trunks were so ancient looking, thick, and the branches were gnarled and spread in a wide arc above our heads. And man, I've never seen so much green in my life! Everything was so vibrant and alive here it really made me feel how dull Amity Park was in comparison, though I'll admit this place did remind me of some of the small town charm I missed about it...

The few people we met during our visit were very nice and it was cool seeing Vlad relax and act like a normal everyday person while still holding himself up with pride. He seemed to be having a good time too just walking around with me and pointing out the different local legends and folklore to me and then secretly telling me all about the parts of it that were actually real and had something to do with the Ghost Zone. For instance, there were ghosts with a power similar to my Ghostly Wail called Banshee's and what most people mistook as Will-o-wisps were just Spectors that wandered into our world through natural portals that appeared more often in old places full of memory and some kind of natural spirit energy like this or something like that. Oh, and speaking of things from Sleepy Hollow, it turns out that Ireland was one of the Fright Knight's old haunting grounds hundreds of years ago when he roamed the earth freely and the locals called him _'Dullahan'_ which was the name of the ghost that inspired the book in the first place. It was weird trying to picture him go from THAT to the Spirit of Halloween I knew now, but at the same time, it made sense. After all, the Fright Knight HAD to be pretty old for a ghost if he once served the Ghost King. I mean the fact that Sam found a book about him had to mean someone had seen him here on Earth long enough to document his existence let alone draw detailed enough sketches of him and his lair. I might ask Vlad more about it later since hearing about the Fright Knights backstory in detail was more interesting then I thought it'd be.

* * *

I must've fallen asleep at some point while Vlad was driving us somewhere because when I woke up his jacket was laying on top of me like a blanket and I could see him leaning against the rental car outside my window. We were parked near one of the many cliff-sides that Ireland was known for and I could hear the faint sound of seagulls and waves crashing down below. It was sunset and in contrast to all the green everything was painted gold and it was really a sight to see. I could only imagine how many stars I'd be able to see once the sun went down because this place was so detached from the rest of civilization and the thought excited me so I rubbed the sleepiness from my eyes and got out the car to stretch.

Vlad noticed me right away and smiled as he asked mirthfully, "Have a nice nap little badger?"

Yawning again I nodded, "Yeah, not sure when I fell asleep though. I didn't miss anything did I?"

"Not at all," Vlad replied warmly, turning back to watch the sunset again. "It seemed positively criminal to wake you so I let you keep resting. After you fell asleep, after a while I decided to take a detour out here and use the opportunity to rest a little while as well. I woke up shortly before you did actually and took the liberty of taking a few pictures of the sunset for you since it'd be a shame if you missed it entirely since we're going to have to head back fairly soon to have dinner and then check into the Bed and Breakfast where we'll be spending the night before taking the helicopter in the morning and heading back to England to get the rest of your things. Once we do we'll be taking my jet straight back home. Still, I'm almost sad to see it end, but I for one couldn't be happier by the outcome of our little venture together."

"Yeah..." was all I could think to say before resting my hands behind my head and leaning against the car too, watching as the sky turned from red to blue as the sun sank further down below the horizon. "Hey Vlad, what time is it anyway?"

"Almost six, why do you ask?" Vlad replied, glancing down at me.

Smiling, I turned and looked up at him then asked, "If you're not hungry can we stay out here a little longer? I want to see how many stars we can see here once the stars go down from above. So would you mind if we took a quick flight to find a good spot to float around and watch them for a bit?"

Laughing and ruffling my hair, Vlad propped himself up and smiled as he transformed and replied, "Anything for you little badger."

Transforming too, I smiled and floated up a bit before pouring as much genuine emotion as I possibly could into these two simple words. "Thanks, Vlad."

And so we spent our last night floating side by side stargazing without saying a word to each other after I pointed out a few constellations I usually couldn't see even from his castle. We were just content sharing this quiet moment together and feeling like this was something we earned. We both did our part, made sacrifices, to get to where we were now. No fighting, no bickering, no slinging fists, ectoblasts, or insults at each other, we were perfectly fine and enjoying having this totally normal experience with someone since neither of us WERE normal or had anyone like that before we could be ourselves around. Vlad and I were two of a kind, and for the first time since that whole thing at the reunion happened to ruin everything a year ago-

I was happy to have met Vlad.

* * *

Vlad's POV

 _A few days later after returning to Wisconsin..._

Normally I wouldn't lament returning to work and the day to day matters, but it was a shame we couldn't have spent a little more time together at our leisure during that trip. Because as expected, some of Daniel's apprehension immediately returned open entering the castle again knowing I was going to ask him about Dan soon even though he was trying not to make it too obvious. But since there wasn't any immediate danger I thought it was a good idea to give Daniel a little time to recover from his jetlag before discussing anything in depth and informed him that I had a few things to catch up on beforehand anyway. In the meantime, we settled back into our usual routine of sharing our meals and doing weight training together afterward while I came up with the best course of action in regards to the Dan situation.

As promised though, we did do a little bit of training with his powers working on the basics again since we were taking things slower this time, Thankfully, as a result, he didn't seem to get frustrated as easily when something went wrong if we risked working on something slightly more advanced and he seemed pleased whenever I gave him progress reports on his power level so far so Daniel could see his growth. And once I felt confident enough in his progress and mental stability I told Daniel he could practice on his own if he wanted to after weight training so long as he didn't overdo it and informed me immediately if he began feeling anything strange no matter how trivial it felt, which thankfully unlike before wasn't something he was prone to doing as often.

Daniel seemed much more relaxed and confident as a whole once we returned from our trip though which came as a huge relief and allowed me to focus on other matters while at the same time concoct a plan of attack so to speak to tackle the Dan dilemma. I made sure to keep an eye on Daniel now that he was around an active ghost portal again but at least so far nothing unusual had happened. So either Dan hadn't noticed Daniel was near one again or he was biding his time. Either way, now that we were home I had a lot of work to do to help Daniel before things escalated again. Still, even I found myself being a bit more soft-spoken than usual when I made a few calls since I was in a good mood which caught a few of my clients and board members off guard. I found it rather amusing and couldn't bring myself to care unless they got too nosy and tried asking me WHY I was in such a good mood.

As for Daniel, he spent most of his time training, playing games in the game room, or talking to his sister when she could spare a moment now that she was back home with their parents who were thankfully being a little more dutiful and patrolling the town now that ghosts were appearing more frequently for some ' _unknown'_ reason. I even caught Daniel trying to study some of my ghost lore books since our day trip to Ireland made him curious about whether any other ghosts he knew had a history of being mistaken as mythical beings in our world or were responsible for some of the classic ghost stories even he's heard over the years.

Aside from that though, I didn't want to press Daniel for details on Dan too soon and wanted to give him the chance to come to me about it since he told me he wanted to try trusting me more which considering everything I've done to him in the past it made since that he was still a little wary of me. We were making progress though and I couldn't be prouder of him for taking the initiative to do what was best for him from now on which meant accepting help from me.

Daniel needed to learn to come to me whenever he needed to talk or wanted help so I didn't have to guess anymore about what was troubling him. I suppose that's only natural though, seeing how he was so used to hiding his true feelings and thoughts from everyone with no one to confide in. That's why Daniel kept it all bottled up inside from most people. His friends and his sister were persistent but they would never be able to relate to the majority of it, not like I could. And I was far more isolated than he was since I didn't even have friends to turn to after Jack and Maddie abandoned me. I spent years suffering alone and took charge of my life much like he had because we had no choice, we'd never be normal again but I've discussed all this before. The point is, because I had put forth the effort to change and to show him I've changed instead of giving him lip service this is why he was finally opening up to me. I can see now that forcing it with him was never the answer...

The answer was simply to care and to back up those feelings with action.

* * *

"I take it this has been quite the long hunt for you, hasn't it Skulker? You look as though your suit is in desperate need of repair or at the very least a good cleaning," I smirked cruelly since it really served him right for going against my wishes before and attacking Daniel on my property.

Approximately an hour or so ago, while I was working on something in my office after Daniel and I went for a quick flight before he eventually decided he wanted to practice the technique I just taught him a little more on his own before bed, I received a call from Skulker who said he had news for me. Turns out he finally caught that Shade Striker which normally would have impressed me given how fierce it was even when Daniel and I fought it. But since Skulker was still treading on thin ice he was lucky I even let him inside of the castle to drop off some fresh ecto-crystals the ghost shed as proof that he'd caught it. Skulker knew I'd be able to tell the difference between ones he scavenged from its lair and newly formed ones and even I must admit the quality of the new ones was easy to discern and it looks like he harvested them himself right off the beast's body. I could only imagine how he managed to pull THAT off.

"Very funny Plasmius," Skulker replied tiredly with a deep frown. "I've done as you asked though so can we put this whole mess behind us? I will concede that the ghost boy is your prey now so do what you will with him for all I care. I just need the work to pay for the repairs I need."

My eyes flashing I warned, "Don't use that tone with me, you brought this upon yourself and again you're lucky I didn't scrap your precious suit myself after that little stunt you pulled. However, these crystals will prove useful so while I won't pay you for capturing the beast itself since I ordered you to as a way to repay me for the damages to my stadium as well as earn my forgiveness I am willing to compensate you for a few of these. After all, Shade Strikers are practically extinct for a reason and even old crystals their kind have created are hard to come by. Just be aware though that I may not be as forgiving the next time you go against my wishes. You may go now."

He blinked, "Wait, didn't you just say you'd pay me?"

I smiled wickedly again and while appraising the crystal in my hand I replied, "I said that I am WILLING, to compensate you, but I never said WHEN. Besides, I need to test the quality of the energy contained in these and compare them to the samples my vultures already picked up for me. I'll notify you once I've decided upon a reasonable amount for each crystal. Until then, if you're that desperate for work I'd suggest going to Amity Park and testing your luck collecting the bounty on taking over that miserable little town."

Shaking his head, Skulker hastily replied, "Not happening Plasmius. Considering the condition my suit is in, I think I'll have to pass. Besides, since just about every ghost I know is trying to stake their claim on the ghost boy's old territory it's more of a hassle than anything at this point. And word on the street is that recently a really powerful new ghost has set their sights on the town and has taken out most of the other contenders one by one. No many ghosts that have gone up against them made it back to the Ghost Zone with their afterlives. Even I know when I'm outmatched." He sighed, "If you're not going to pay me I guess I'll just have to make due selling pelts and hope that's enough to fix my right arm at least."

"Be thankful I'm paying you at all," I reminded him and he scoffed, clearly not in the mood to put on his usual airs and without bothering to say goodbye Skulker phased through the nearest wall since I didn't let him use my portal and he flew here all the way from Amity Park which was a few hours away.

That's when it occurred to me that Daniel was probably still outside practicing but since Skulker knew better than to cross me a second time part of me hoped Daniel might spot him and decide to teach him a lesson. I entertained the idea of sending a duplicate after him, but shook the thought off as I had better things to do. At least then I could have watched the show. Well no matter, if Skulker started trouble again I'm sure Daniel would be more than happy to put that rust bucket in his place as the hero defending his home. And I sincerely hoped Daniel felt that way about this place now...

That it was like home.

* * *

Danny's POV

I'm glad Vlad didn't push me for details about Dan as soon as we got home because I needed a bit more time to collect my thoughts and figure out how much I was ready to tell him. Telling Vlad straight out that Dan was a future evil-self version of me still felt like a really bad idea, but at the same time...what did I have to lose? At this point, I was probably just nervous and it wasn't about trust. I just...wanted to make sure it wasn't a mistake. And I knew Vlad was going to find out one way or another either before or while we faced him, so when it came down to it what I really needed to decide was whether he found out from Dan or directly from me. Ideally, the truth about Dan should come from me, Clockwork even said so, but I was still unsure so I decided I'd tell him as much as I was ready to and not worry about the rest until we came up with a strategy to beat Dan for good.

Turns out I was right about one thing though, as soon as we got back I could feel something ominous on the other side of the ghost portal which didn't help my nerves. I was doing better though so I didn't start freaking out or anything. I haven't had any nightmares yet either which was a relief. Guess I was too busy reliving the trip in my head and clinging to that feeling of freedom and confidence that I could still hold my own against most things, ghosts aside.

I honestly don't know if it's just because we were somewhere new that was more open and the air was cleaner there, but for the first time in a while, I felt like I could breathe again. That weight on my shoulders wasn't as heavy now that I was starting to believe Clockwork was onto something so even when we came back, I still felt better about sticking things out after all. Vlad's changed a lot since this all started and now because of it, I felt more comfortable around him. I never could have imagined I'd have such a good time with my former arch enemy, but I did, and I also got excited by the idea of training and driving and showing off cool ways I've used my powers that he may never have thought of. In a way, I was doing what Vlad did to prove he cared more about me than hating my dad, I was also letting go of the past and accepting what we had now. And anything was better then how things were before, feeling like I was being attacked, mocked, chastised, and scolded on all sides so what little confidence ghost fighting gave me basically went down the toilet and the most I could hope for was staying alive and getting enough sleep not to pass out and end up in the hospital.

Either way, Vlad helped me become stronger in more ways than one. He reminded me that my accomplishments still meant something and just because I didn't have to fight for my life and everyone else's it didn't mean they've gone away. Every challenge I've overcome, every power I've mastered, every enemy I've defeated, that was all me. No one else could have done what I've done. At least, not the same way because the pressure was just, unreal. I guess I was used to it though since my parents basically decided I was going to hunt ghosts whether I wanted to or not. But we've talked about all this before. The point is, the truth is what didn't kill me DID make me stronger and thanks to Vlad setting his own vendetta aside to help me get even better I was feeling pretty good about myself. If anyone tried messing with me now short of Dan I could probably-

While I was thinking about all this outside while working on the technique Vlad taught me to reflect ecto-energy off of my ghost shield, my ghost sense went off and at first I thought Vlad was coming to check up on me until I saw that it was Skulker. "Seriously? He's back at it again already?" I wondered, glaring in his direction.

I wasn't mad at Vlad though surprisingly, I was more annoyed at Skulker for showing his face here again, especially since Vlad didn't want him picking a fight with me like last time the same way he used to in Amity Park. I could only assume Skulker had flown here all the way from home since Vlad locked him out of his ghost portals and the ghost shield around the castle. That's the only explanation I could up with about why I was seeing him now, flying away from the castle.

I was about to go back to minding my own business when I started thinking, _You know what? Even when I AM minding my own business Skulker takes every opportunity to start hunting me again and it's only a matter of time before he gets tempted to do it again if he managed to get back in Vlad's good graces somehow. Maybe it's time to take the fight to him so he'll be more likely to leave me alone next time. Vlad said so, didn't he? Ghosts respect power and at some point even Skulker's going to realize I'm not the same scrawny kid I was when he first targeted me. Speaking of targeting..._

Charging up some of my ice energy in both hands since Skulker had no idea I could use that yet, I positioned myself and with a rebellious smirk on my face I took aim at his retreating back and decided that a little payback was long overdue. I mean even if he DID patch things up with Vlad enough for him to let Skulker work for him again for me it was a different story entirely. Honestly, I think of all the ghosts I've met and fought since gaining my ghost powers this year, Skulker was the one I usually fought the most. He was the one who enjoyed outright attacking me and it wasn't about anything else. Skulker didn't care about taking anything over or controlling people, it was always about hunting and for the thrill and he got a kick out of making my life miserable so he was no better than the normal bullies I had to deal with at school.

I was sick and tired of it. Up until now I've only been defending myself and it's only now that I realize Vlad was right, sometimes you have to stand up for yourself and assert yourself so people back off. Or in this case, ghosts. I didn't have to go on the offensive with normal people aside from verbal stuff but here, maybe it was about time I showed everyone how strong I could be once I stopped holding back. I'd be careful not to cause any damage to the castle but since there were no people who needed my protection there was no other reason to hold back.

Sam and Tucker weren't here to scold me when they were the ones who were perfectly safe sitting on the sidelines while I got the crap beaten out of me to make sure they weren't targeted. It didn't always work, but I took the brunt of every blow so that they didn't have to feel afraid, didn't have to worry about getting hurt, didn't have to explain why they were home after curfew since I always dropped them off at home first before heading back myself, and they didn't have to lie through their teeth while internally screaming at the injustice of it all when sometimes everything I fought for, everything I was trying to do and to be, it felt like none of it mattered outside of what I was expected to do.

I was too predictable, too accepting of every blow whether it was to my pride or to my face, that's why I wanted to see if it could end here. Even if it was only Skulker until things settled down and Vlad helped me find a way to go back home without sacrificing all of my freedom again, I wanted to take something back. I wanted to do something for myself for once even if it was just taking the fight to Skulker so he'd leave me alone from now on and tell his friends I wasn't playing around anymore. If I did ever go back to fighting ghosts I was done letting them walk all over me. Even if it took some time, Vlad was on my side now and I'm sure he'd help me find a better way to balance out my personal life and didn't have anything against me still doing what I thought was right as long as I didn't keep pushing myself to the brink like I did when this all started, when I made the mistake of not changing back before walking past my parents as usual...

If I had been more careful and did what Jazz told me and gave myself a little more time before going after the latest ghost and getting some sleep, none of this would have happened. I would have kept going until eventually it became too much and I broke down, because I was at my limit. And who knows, even if we were still enemies maybe I would have finally snapped and gone to Vlad and begged him to help make my life easier since I couldn't take it anymore. But then, he wouldn't have changed into who he is now. Someone I enjoyed being around as a person that I was really starting to see as a friend and a mentor. I think because I'd be the one who came to him once I was at the end of my rope, Vlad would have finally let go of his pretty grudge because of those pranks I pulled on him and embraced what I was offering. And he'd expect me to become his pupil and renounce my dad after all, maybe he'd even make me live with him at his mansion in Amity Park just to make sure I wouldn't have second thoughts and try backing out. I could only imagine how things could have turned out if something hadn't forced my hand.

But the thing is...I can say with confidence now that I didn't regret my choice of staying with him and giving Vlad a chance. For once, I did something right and I did it as much for myself as I did it for him. I decided I didn't want to be enemies anymore and I've accepted who Vlad is. I'm not holding the past against him anymore. Thanks to that we've been able to steadily build a new future together. And once Dan was out of the picture for good, then I would finally know I've beaten my demons too.

First things first though, speaking of beating my demons, I think it's about time I gave Skulker a taste of his own medicine. Just like Sam once said, _'Never is karma's doorbell'_ and Skulker would never expect me to attack him first since that normally wasn't my style. I was always the one defending, protecting, but now it was time for me to protect myself and stop his plans to keep hunting me for good. If he thought for one minute I was going to let things go back to how they were even once I did go home to Amity Park, he had another thing coming! And with that, once my decision was locked into place and my aim was locked on target, I released my attack and knew right then and there-

There was no taking that back.


	67. Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (4/9/2019):** Holy CRAP! I am so sorry this took so long but trust me, it'll be worth it! This chapter is action packed and we're leading into the final showdown at long last! Hope you brought snacks and lots of tissues because things are about to get real up in here!

* * *

Chapter 66: Revenge Is A Dish Best Served Cold

* * *

Danny's POV

My aim and attack range had clearly improved a lot during the last few months of training since I was able to hit Skulker square between the shoulder blades from where I was with absolutely no problem at all. Man, I could only imagine the look on Skulker's face when his sensors went off to warn him of my attack just before it hit, only it was already too late. For the first time in what seemed like forever, I finally got the jump on HIM and it felt great!

"Bull's eye!" I smirked when I saw how fast my ice powered ray froze his jet pack solid and saw how he started jerking around in midair, frantically trying to regain control of his suit.

I watched him for awhile, wondering what attack to try on him next when Skulker suddenly veered sharply to the left and took a nose dive straight into the trees. Well, that kinda sucked, now I was going to have to go in after him. Because oh yeah, I wasn't about to take it easy on him, not this time. And especially not after all the problems he's caused or how much I hated the way Skulker literally made it his personal mission to remind me of how backed into a corner I already felt most of the time by my own parents and Valerie who were both trying to hunt me down constantly too. Like I said, it'd be one thing if I was picking a fight with one of the dozens of ghosts who only wanted to take over Amity, control or even hurt people, but this, this was personal.

Skulker and I had a score to settle...

As soon as I went in after him, it occurred to me that Vlad probably heard that crash but then I though he wasn't going to miss a few trees right? As long as I made sure to keep Skulker away from the castle we could duke it out as much as we wanted. And for once I didn't have to worry about property damage here or innocent bystanders getting in the way since any animals in the area would have long run off if they knew what was good for them. My only goal here was giving Skulker a piece of my mind since I was feeling pretty confident and thought hey, this still counted as target practice right? So technically I WAS still doing some training on my own before bed. I just happened to spot the perfect moving target who usually used me for the same sort of thing and seized the opportunity to return the favor.

Once I found the area close to where I saw Skulker fall and found the trees his crash landing had snapped in half on impact, I immediately tried feeling for his ghost signature, but for some reason it felt like it was in several places at once. Well that was odd, since I knew for a fact that Skulker couldn't duplicate himself. At least, not unless he wanted to ditch his battle-suit since it couldn't duplicate along with him. Either way I guess he still had a few tricks up his sleeve which makes sense since he IS a hunter. This time though I was the one who decided to pick a fight with him and I was determined to end it on my terms even if it took me all night! It'd be worth it just to make Skulker back off and promise to leave me alone. I wanted to drill it into his head that since I was the one who would kick his butt, I was the one he needed to watch out for if he ever showed his face here again, not Vlad...

I mean sure I appreciated being protected by someone else for once when I needed it, but I wasn't completely helpless anymore and I wanted to prove it to Vlad and to myself. And yeah, this probably wasn't the BEST way to go about doing that but Vlad was always making the most of any situation he was faced with and when an opening presented itself he took it, so why couldn't I do the same thing? I wasn't hurting anyone and Skulker deserved it anyway. Also, once we do start talking about how to deal with Dan I for one would feel much better knowing I hadn't lost my edge and I could still throw down a strong ghost or two in a real fight just like I've been doing for the past year.

I was still in the middle of searching the woods for Skulker and weaving through trees when I suddenly sensed him close by and then shot off flying in that general direction. "I've got you now..." I told myself smugly under my breath, smirking until I noticed something glint in the corner of my eye and seconds later a net came flying at me and I flew slightly to dodge it since I was going way too fast to be able to stop dead in my tracks.

After that I made a sharp turn so I could head back in that direction, but I only made it about halfway before an energy blast struck me from the other side and I would have crashed into the nearest tree if I hadn't instinctively gone intangible to avoid getting any serious injuries. _Man that smarts, I guess Skulker isn't messing around anymore either,_ I thought as I pulled myself back up to my feet, dusting myself off when I saw him lowering the gun on his arm and oh boy did he look grumpy! I'd still called that a victory for me though because it felt good to finally wipe that smug grin off his face. After all Skulker was always looking all high and mighty and looking down on me all the time despite how many times I've kicked his butt and sent him packing straight to the Ghost Zone. The guy just didn't know how to take a hint and get lost and hunt someone else.

"You have some nerve picking a fight with me, ghost boy," Skulker frowned, his voice sounding surprisingly grouchy and tired after rolling his shoulders and neck. I could even see a few loose wires sticking out from where his jet pack used to be. In fact, there were tiny sparks flying from them every so often whenever he moved. "I really wasn't in the mood to hunt you today, but since you insist-"

"Well YOU have a lot of nerve showing your face around here at all after the stunt you pulled last time I saw you! So yeah, I decided to show you what it feels like for once to be someone else's target practice," I shot back, literally blasting him back a few feet with a normal ecto-energy ray from my hands only I added a little more oomph to it.

Skulker quickly regained his footing though, his suit being metal and all that that was specifically designed to withstand most ecto-energy attacks, and then he held out both arms in front of him, shooting a few more lazer beams at me. I was able to dodge most of them, but unfortunately for me there were too many trees around us and it made it harder for me to maneuver around them in time to strike back fast enough so maybe I didn't think this through very well. If we were in an open field or up in the air Skulker would have been toast by now, or a popsicle depending on my mood. Either way, looking back on it I probably should have taken into account that Skulker was used to fighting in forested areas and setting traps since his lair WAS kind of a jungle so he was still putting up a decent fight despite how tired and unenthusiastic I could tell he was compared to when we fought last time. That's probably why Skulker was mostly defensive during the majority of our battle or just flat out trying to get away from me when one of his traps caught me off guard and it gave him a small advantage again...but his head start never lasted long since I was still much faster than him.

Still, I was hoping that maybe now he was finally starting to understand how I felt because that's usually how it was for me after fighting him and five hundred other stupid ghosts one after the other. I was attacked relentlessly from all sides with no chance of escaping without putting others at risk or a safe place I could easily catch my breath. That's why I kept going after him so much without letting up at all. I wanted Skulker to know exactly how it felt to be attacked at every turn on a whim, I also wanted him to know I wasn't messing around anymore and THIS is what happens when I get serious and stop playing nice. I just never had a reason to stop holding back and go all out against him before now, it felt wrong somehow, but not anymore.

He managed to get a few solid hits on me that I was definitely going to feel in the morning, but for the most part I had him on the run. And it felt great. Finally, I was the top dog for once and Skulker was the one looking for a way out of this mess he'd gotten himself into. So at one point, I had him pinned down between a small overhang were a large uprooted tree had naturally formed a partial cave or a big hole at least and Skulker surprised me by grinning while holding his side where I'd exposed even more wires and circuits in his suit.

"Would you look at that, seems like you've finally grown a backbone," Skulker chuckled. "Guess it was worth becoming Plasmius's little pet project after all."

"Shut up, it's not like that!" I snapped, glaring at Skulker after punching him hard in the jaw, knocking him down to the dirt, and slowly walking up to him. "This isn't about Vlad. This is between you and me Skulker. The truth is, I'm just sick of your crap so I decided now was a good time to get a little payback for what you did back in the football field when I was minding my own business!" Lifting him up by the neck I continued angrily, "You're always attacking me for no reason back home so I figured it was about time I returned the favor. This isn't like it was before. Because I'm NOT going to put up with your crap anymore Skulker. I shouldn't have to. I finally caught a break for the first time in ages and realized something. I don't have to keep letting other people or stupid ghosts like you keep walking all over me, ruining my life, and putting the people I care about in danger. I don't have to hold anything back anymore if it means you'll finally get it in your head that I'm not the same scared kid I used to be when you first decided to hunt me. Everything is different now, and so am I."

Gripping my arm and struggling a bit to free himself, Skulker scoffed, "Funny you should say that when you're the one getting all nice and cozy with the man who was once your arch enemy who made it his personal mission to destroy you and your father! Some hero you turned out to be whelp. And let's face it, if it wasn't for Plasmius and his support you would still be that spineless wanna be ghost hero and you definitely wouldn't have had the guts to strike first! The only reason you are doing this right now is because you know I can't fight back without making Plasmius even angrier with me and ripping my head off. And you're just using that to your advantage. Admit it!"

Gripping his neck even tighter and bending the metal since I knew this wasn't his real form anyway and I couldn't strangle him, I breathed in a low menacing voice, "You're wrong Skulker. You have NO idea what I'm really capable of, trust me. Want me to prove it? Well you know what they say, actions speak much louder than words. Just be thankful I'm not going to use my Ghostly Wail on you, in which case that WOULD be louder..."

His eyes widening in shock, Skulker stuttered, "You're bluffing! You-you wouldn't dare!"

"I'll be a good sport and give you a head start this time Skulker," I said, releasing my grip on his neck. "But after that, it's game over and if you know what's good for you, you'll leave me alone from now on if you ever decide to come back here looking for work. Not because Vlad said so, but because I did."

Scrambling to his feet, Skulker frantically tried to fly out of range of my attacks knowing he was outclassed this time but without his jet pack he could only fly so fast on his own when he was already tired and his suit was badly damaged. Part of me considered leaving it at that since I'd already spooked him enough, beaten the crap out of him, and damaged his suit likely beyond repair, but if I did, he'd just get cocky the moment he recovered and made a new suit or Skulker might even try to complain to Vlad about what I just did.

I knew Vlad better than Skulker did at this point though. Probably better than anyone really. In fact, Vlad might actually feel proud of me for taking the fight to him and asserting myself which Skulker clearly wasn't used to and he obviously didn't understand what kind of relationship Vlad and I had now. I wasn't just some kind of underling to Vlad or an evil apprentice, I was family, and Vlad was looking out for me and he wanted me to succeed in every way possible whether it was with my powers or my life in general. And in return, I wanted to show him how far I've come and prove to him that I could still do it, I still could take care of myself and it was all thanks to him believing in me, treating me like a person and not some prize, and giving me the confidence I needed to stand on my own two feet again.

So the moment Skulker was in position, I charged another attack between my hands, letting the ecto-energy build up until it was almost rumbling in my hands like an earthquake, and like that time in the football field I unleashed a savage battle cry and set that energy loose; only this time, thankfully, I didn't create another accidental ghost portal. Instead, my ghost ray condensed into a solid beam of light and I had the bright idea of adding my cold energy to it to make the metal in his suit even more brittle so it would shatter more easily if I decided to strike again and force him to fly home in his tiny blob form.

That's when it happened...

My attack was so powerful that the light temporarily blinded me and I had to cover my eyes the moment it made contact with his suit. And then, my attack shot clean through his chest and Skulker exploded in a ball of blue-green flame. I watched silently as what was left of Skulker's suit slowly fell to the ground below, some of it frozen solid when my last minute ice energy flash-froze it. My whole body suddenly went numb after that and my ears started ringing as I slowly flew towards where he fell since I felt weak in the knees and couldn't trust my legs to support me. And when I saw exactly what I'd done, my heart started racing and I began hyperventilating as memories from Dan's timeline suddenly flashed through my mind-

I saw the younger version of my evil self laughing in front of a scorch mark on the ground where a similar suit lay in pieces at his feet; I saw him pick up Skulker's unconscious blob form by one of his legs, roll him up into a ball in his hands and then tossed Skulker like a piece of trash behind him before stepping over what was left of his battle-suit to move on to looking for his next victim. Then I saw Dan give Skulker's other suits a similar treatment over the years, each attempt ending worse than the last, until eventually Skulker merged with Technus and was using a battle suit just like the one I fought that dragged me to Clockwork's tower. But this wasn't something Dan had done in his timeline. I did this. I attacked Skulker and I was... enjoying it. I didn't think there was anything wrong with feeling confident but this...I...!

Without realizing it, I wound up repeating something from Dan's timeline by mistake. He didn't do anything to make me do it this time, it was all me. I was the one who did this. I was the one who messed up and I couldn't bear it! "No, no, no no no..." I repeated over and over again, taking a few steps back and gripping my head as my entire body trembled, "I didn't mean to-! I wasn't going to go THIS far! I only wanted to make him-!"

 _That's it..._ Dan whispered mockingly in my ear and I shuttered, almost feeling as though he was breathing right into my ear and holding my shoulders to keep me from collapsing on the spot. _You've always wanted to teach him a lesson, and now you have. It's a lesson he'll never forget either. Neither should you. It feels good to use your power against your enemies, doesn't it Danny? It doesn't have to stop there either. You can make them all pay for what they've done to you. All you have to do...is let me..._

Everything went dark after that and it felt like I was sleepwalking or in some sort of trance when I felt the same pull on my mind as before, but now it was much stronger. I couldn't resist anymore, couldn't stop myself, and before I knew it I'd flown high up into the air and held out my hand in front of me to create a ghost portal. Then I disappeared into the swirling green light...

And so did my ability to think for myself.

* * *

Vlad's POV

After finishing some of the paperwork I was previously working on while Skulker gave me his report earlier and after further examining one the crystal's Skulker dropped off with mild interest, I was about to go see if Daniel was done practicing yet when a low rumble broke the silence and I saw a flash of blue light I could only assume was a ray of Daniel's ice powers. It certainly felt like his ice energy at any rate. I was a little concerned at first until it occurred to me that the direction I heard the sound from was the same direction Skulker flew off in.

Looks like Daniel decided to have a little fun after all and teach Skulker a lesson in humility. Otherwise, it was entirely possible that Skulker was foolishly trying to trick me by sending one of his little _'pets'_ after the boy instead of going against my wishes directly. I doubt even he was stupid enough to try it though. It certainly wouldn't end well for him if that were the case.

"It's about time you taught them who's in charge Daniel," I smiled to myself, turning back to my desk to straighten the pile of papers in my hands while whistling to myself.

Normally, I would have been tempted to intervene and put a stop to this nonsense with Skulker for Daniel's sake, but then I realized this was the perfect opportunity to let Daniel learn a valuable lesson in standing up for himself against ghosts too since he already did a splendid job holding his own against one of my new company's board members. Besides, Daniel knew for a fact that Skulker wasn't allowed to attack him again on my property, at least not unless he wanted me to PERSONALLY inflict the same amount of bodily harm on him a hundred fold. So with that in mind, I was actually very proud of Daniel for using that little tidbit of knowledge to his advantage and making the first move for once...

His power had grown immensely even from the last time I fought Daniel and back then I didn't notice the true extent of how quickly he was developing to the point where Daniel was already well past where I was in my development as the first half-ghost within only a few years of having my powers. And the fact that Daniel could now add ice powers to his already impressive list of ghost powers was astounding. It was fascinating how different yet alike we were in that regard. We had all the same basic ghost powers, but because Daniel was developing in ways I never could have foreseen even if Daniel had come to me much sooner for training and guidance. And it was all due to the simple fact that unlike me he had been transformed into a hybrid because of an accident caused by a stable ghost portal powered with filtrated ecto-energy, thus resulting in a regulated mutation rate that was able to quickly adapt to his steadily maturing human half.

It was just as well though that his core had manifested while he was in my care since Daniel clearly needed me NOW more than ever at this critical stage in his life where those powers would have been more difficult to hide even under normal circumstance, especially without causing major health problems. Either way I knew Daniel could handle Skulker with his eyes closed and he likely already knew that I wouldn't reprimand him for attacking first. He had every right to after all, and asserting his dominance as the superior ghost in the area, well, aside from me of course, would help reduce the chances of being attacked tremendously if and when he ever did return to that poor excuse of a town he called home.

Still, I did worry about Daniel getting carried away again and not defending himself properly despite all the training we've been doing together; with that in mind I decided to head down to the lab just in case Daniel returned home with any minor injuries so I could take care of them. I knew Daniel could do it himself of course, but it still made me feel like I was being the responsible adult by insisting on making sure he stayed healthy and assuring him that he didn't feel the need to hide his pain or bear his burdens alone anymore. I refused to let that dangerous mindset continue. I promised myself that if Daniel was ever hurt, I would heal him; if Daniel ever felt afraid or found himself in danger, I would protect him and destroy anyone who dared to do him harm whether it be physical or emotional; and if Daniel ever felt unhappy or alone, I would remind him how much I loved him and assure my little badger that he wasn't alone. I was here for him from now on; now and forever.

Also, quite honestly Daniel should have realized by now he doesn't need to justify his actions to me. We're birds of a feather, and I understand this need Daniel has to do what he feels is right, despite what the world at large will think of his actions and of him as a person or the self-appointed hero. And right now, Daniel is doing something he realistically should have done many times over by drawing the line with Skulker. It wasn't as though Daniel was hurting anyone who didn't already deserve it and demanding a little payback for all the pain and humiliation they'd caused him was the least he could do...

Daniel was only looking out for himself first and foremost which as I said is something he SHOULD have been doing all along. Besides, Skulker brought this upon himself when he refused to take a hint and leave Daniel alone when it should have been obvious that he wasn't doing any harm, least of all going against me at the time. Besides, if he wanted to Daniel could easily dispose of him too which was another reason for Skulker not to challenge him anymore. Frankly, the only reason Daniel hadn't already done this was because it went against his nature. He didn't have it in him to destroy even his most hated of enemies which was precisely why from now on that would be my job.

At any rate, just when I was about to reach for my small first aid kit down in the lab my communicator went off suddenly, alerting me that none other than the Fright Knight was trying to contact me. With everything else going on though I had nearly forgotten all about his strange behavior that Skulker tried to warn me about. But since it had turned out to be a false alarm last time it still felt highly unlikely that the Fright Knight had anything to do with Dan. At the same time, I wasn't foolish enough to dismiss Skulker's concerns entirely either on the off chance there was something more at work here.

And so, I thought to myself, why not go ahead and see what our wayward knight wanted? I didn't see the harm in at least hearing what he had to say for himself and finding out exactly what the Fright Knight wanted to discuss with me so urgently while Daniel was preoccupied. At least the Fright Knight DID know to respect our power so allowing him a quick visit couldn't possibly do any harm now could it...?

After all, even Daniel had to admit that the Fright Knight wasn't as diabolical as he originally thought. It all depends on whom he serves and what motivates the Fright Knight at any given time. Besides, he and I had mutual understanding and respected one another which meant the Fright Knight had no reason to go against my wishes unlike Skulker, not to mention he had already long since renounced his vengeance on Daniel for stealing his sword once at my behest, and that's the only reason why I decided to approve of his unexpected visit.

That's why after weighing the pros and cons of this situation I ultimately decided to go ahead and open the portal for the Fright Knight so I could at least hear him out. After all, I held his reputation in higher esteem than Skulkers at any given time and at least the Fright Knight always respected my authority and ASKED for permission to use my portal since I didn't give him free access to it normally seeing as I didn't employ his services very often. I made an exception to this rule at least for a little while when Daniel was in a state of panic, and his mind was in a very dark place. And since the Fright Knight was the perfect ally to call upon to use his power to sense those fears for me, he had offered me invaluable insight to what was possibly ailing Daniel's mental state at the time.

Once I finally understood exactly what Daniel's everyday fears and concerns were, as well as the terrible fear he had of this ghost from the future, I finally had the tools I needed and I was determined to root out and destroy this Dan creature so he could never torment my little badger again. And this extra bit of information had proven the Fright Knight's worth to me once more as a ghost who was more than a mere pawn to me. However, that did not mean that the ghostly knight didn't still have ulterior motives for his visit. It would be foolish to assume he wasn't after something specific just like Skulker was. After all, ghosts, by nature are also selfish creatures.

* * *

Once I unsealed my ghost portal the Fright Knight stepped casually into the laboratory, clearly at ease, but as usual he made sure to stop before me as a sign of respect and professionalism before crossing the threshold. At least he had manners unlike certain OTHER ghosts I could mention. Even so this was highly unusual of him to go out of his way to see me in person rather than use our usual method of communication to relay a message or report something to me...

That is, unless I expressly summoned him to my side like before when Daniel suffered his first direct attack from Dan when that monster somehow managed to manifest part of himself through Daniel's ghost half. No doubt the Fright Knight could sense my apprehension regarding the nature of his visit despite how masterfully I could hide it normally from others, but he WAS the Spirit Halloween who under any other circumstances drew power from human fear. However, that was still no reason to jump to conclusions just yet seeing as I had no proof anything was wrong. So why worry about it needlessly?

"It's highly unusual for you to make house calls, Fright Knight. More so when I haven't sent for you. I take it you have a good explanation for this? I am a rather busy man you know," I began in a low but equally calm tone while making sure I was keeping tabs on Daniel's ghost signature in the back of my mind just in case I needed to cut this visit short and send the knight on his merry way much like I had with Skulker to avoid...complications.

Nodding the Fright Knight replied indifferently, "Of course, Plasmius. I would never waste your valuable time coming here without due cause. We're business associates, to coin it in a way you understand best in modern terms. And you don't waste the time of those you work with, especially those in power."

"True enough. And? What is it you've come to discuss with me exactly that you feel is so important enough as to warrant such a sudden visit?" I asked leaning my back against the examination table opposite the stairs, looking rather bored I'm sure.

Crossing his arms, the Fright Knight explained, "It has recently come to my attention that Skulker has been in frequent contact with you these last few weeks. I also heard he was on his way here to deliver something to you. Is that correct?"

Frowning I warned, "You do realize how unprofessional it is to discuss those I often employ privately don't you? I don't appreciate being spied on. And just how did you know he was here?"

Meeting my harsh gaze the Fright Knight calmly pointed out, "I have many connections throughout the Ghost Zone, same as you, and I make it a point to make sure my facts are straight. Especially when I am following orders."

"That sounds reasonable enough I suppose, but what does that have to do with you keeping tabs on Skulker?" I asked, shifting my weight to the other foot before leaning against the examination table again.

"Let me be frank," the Fright Knight began, closing the distance between us as he told me directly, "Word has reached my ear that he's been spreading a particularly insidious rumor that I'm acting against you. I've had enough of hearing this slander which is why I wanted to come clear the air with you myself. At no point have I been in anyone's employ but your own and by extension the other hybrid in your care. Anything stating otherwise is felonious and baseless! Our alliance thus far has been mutually beneficial. And it would be foolish to end it in such a crude way without making it perfectly clear that should a day like that ever come it would be because it is in my nature to follow the most powerful ghost who is worthy of my blade..."

There was a pause after that where he seemed to be confirming something to himself before continuing, "I do not betray those I follow lightly Plasmius, not unless it benefits me in some way and in the case of Pariah, he was once a king among kings in his time when I last served him but it soon became clear upon his return that I held no true value in his eyes and had proven himself unworthy to rule over me. As you are well aware of by now, I will only serve the ghost I have deemed most worthy who have proven their superior skill, cunning, and might in open battle, and thus far the only two ghosts have ever come even remotely close to surpassing my former master in terms of raw power and majesty. And they are none other than yourself and Danny Phantom. As for the matter with Skulker, yes I can confirm that he did indeed see me in Ghost Zone. But seeing as I was following your orders to search for this _'Dan'_ I deemed it acceptable to ignore him and therefore parted ways with Skulker rather abruptly which I could see as looking suspicious at the time to the hunter. However, I do not answer to him, I answer to you. And given his past record of disobeying your orders, especially considering the ghost boy, to be perfectly honest Plasmius I find him particularly dishonorable and prone to irrational behavior. Skilled as he is, Skulker relies too heavily on his technology to make up for his lack of natural ghost power and as such he seeks to belittle those greater than himself and tear them down. Normally I would not take heed of his insults, but since this affects my standing with you I will not allow him to get away with this."

 _Now it makes sense,_ I thought to myself after closing my eyes to process everything he just told me. Still, something wasn't adding up so I continued analyzing the current situation in my head, wondering, _But why do I get the feeling he's still hiding something? Is he indirectly asking me for permission to challenge Skulker to a duel to defend his honor? The Fright Knight should know by now that I really don't care what they do in their personal time as long as it doesn't interfere with my plans or risk compromising whatever task I sent them out to accomplish..._

"Fright Knight, forgive me but I still fail to see why you felt the need to tell me all of this personally. Since I haven't had any problems with your services up until now I would have been more than willing to hear you out using our normal communication method. There's clearly another reason why you came all the way here, and unless you tell me what it is then I'm afraid you're just going to have to wait until Skulker returns to the Ghost Zone to confront him because he just left. And the way I see it, if you really WERE only following my orders and Skulker read too much into it then I say we leave it at that since it hardly matters anymore. His last lead turned out to be a fluke anyway and to be honest I am beginning to doubt his usefulness too, but that is for me to decide, not you. Now then, I do believe we're finished here so-" straightening up to make my way towards the portal to reopen it for him, I paused midstep when all of a sudden, Daniel's ghost signature simply vanished...

It didn't just fade away gradually due to him flying out of range of my ghost sense, which was already highly attuned to his presence, his ghost signature outright disappeared without a trace and despite myself, I felt my shoulders visibly tense as I recalled the last time Daniel disappeared like this. That time when he accidentally created a ghost portal while incorrectly drawing in the ambient ecto-energy around him and wound up injured when that Shade Striker attacked us. Was it possible Daniel had done so again by mistake...? Or was this another ploy by Dan to target Daniel while he was alone now that we've returned here where I had two active portals in my mansion? Either way this did not bode well, but I couldn't let myself panic. For one thing, the Fright Knight could sense my fear, and for another, I thought that surely there was a reasonable explanation. I was probably overthinking it.

Daniel could have just as easily returned to his human form after fighting Skulker to conserve energy in which case it was normally a little more difficult to sense his ghost powers anyway. Or perhaps Daniel was tailing Skulker further out than he meant to in the heat of the moment and he would return any minute now. It was pretty late after all and Daniel knew I didn't like him staying up too late and ruining the sleep routine we worked so hard to reestablish for him. Well, whatever the case may be, I couldn't help but worry a little and wanted to make sure Daniel was alright so the Fright Knight would just have to let himself out while I went to check on him.

"I believe you know the way out Fright Knight. I'm afraid I have something else to attend to before I retire for the night. We will discuss this in more detail next time when I have more time to spare on such trivial matters," I began curtly after making sure the portal was active...

And then, just as I was walking past the Fright Knight towards the staircase with my hands resting behind my back to radiate an air of confidence that was actually more than I was feeling at the moment because for some reason a terrible feeling of dread began welling up inside of me, I heard the sound of a sword being unsheathed behind me and felt the unnatural chill of his blade, the Soul Shredder, against the side of my neck where the flat of it was resting against my shoulder and then the Fright Knight suddenly addressed me in an equally cold tone.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow that, Plasmius," he said, sliding the blade further along my shoulder until it reached a third of the way past the hilt of the weapon, nearly drawing blood with how close its keen edge was to my exposed skin. And my concern only grew when it almost seemed to hum with the power to embody my worse fear which up until now hadn't been an issue I had to seriously consider. But now...I had something to lose and therefore something to fear.

"Well now this is unexpected, do you suddenly have some grudge against me too Fright Knight? Whatever happened to you respecting my power? Or are you asking for a reminder?" I challenged in a low and dangerous tone, transforming into my ghost half since I did NOT take kindly to being threatened by anyone, much less in my own home by someone who up until this very moment was someone I once held in high esteem, which as you may recall is extremely rare nowadays.

Shaking his head, the Fright Knight admitted, "No, I have no qualms with you Plasmius, but my orders are clear. I can't let you interfere with his plans for the ghost boy..."

My eyes flashed an even brighter red in indignation at this betrayal, but for now, I didn't dare move my head just yet until I was ready to strike back and I snarled, "And just who, pray tell, is this new master of yours, hmm? Who do you seem to think could possibly be more powerful than I am?"

Pausing for a moment once again, the Fright Knight seemed to be considering whether to answer me or not before he finally decided to do so and replied rather forlornly, "He is...someone whose might surpasses even yours, someone you know quite well and will come to know again. You've known them for a while now. But I can say no more than that. Prepare yourself Plasmius, because until I am given further orders from my new master, you are not to leave this castle. And if we are both to survive his wrath you would do well not to resist. I am not fighting against you now out of a desire to do so. And while I know I will not be forgiven for this treachery, believe me when I say I have no intention of harming you unprovoked so for old time's sake, do not force me to do so. I realize this is a foolish request on my part that you will very likely ignore, but even so believe me when I say that...I truly regret that it had to end this way. However, I doubt this was meant to last forever..."

"You're not the only one feeling regret...old friend. But so be it," I whispered almost to myself before abruptly teleporting behind him and within seconds I formed a glowing sword similar to the one I used when I fought Daniel while vying for ownership of the Infimap and our blades met in midair and white-hot sparks of ecto-energy burst from the force of impact. And with that, I knew my worse fear had already become a reality without the Fright Knight's blade piercing my flesh...

Daniel...he wasn't just missing.

He was gone.


	68. History Is Doomed To Repeat Itself

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (4/27/2019):** Sorry this took so long to get started but I haven't been sleeping very well lately and I didn't want to ruin this by pushing myself to write when I was too tired. Then I caught a nasty stomach flu on top of that once I finally manged to get started working on this which wasn't fun either. But, since we're in the final stretch now and I REALLY want to make sure these final chapters are as epic, tragic, and angsty as possible! I've done a lot of brainstorming with my BF/Beta reader and together we came up with some great dialogue way ahead of schedule that took awhile to track down and now it's time to work them into the story as we draw the curtains open on part of the grand finale of _"Nowhere To Run!"_ On that note, I'd like to take a moment to thank all of you who have reviewed this story recently because it made me very happy to see that the hard work I put into the last chapter finally paid off and you're all eager to see what happens next! I know I am!

* * *

 **Chapter 67:** History Is Doomed To Repeat Itself

(Chapter inspired by Just Like You by Three Days Grace)

* * *

Danny's POV

 _Ugh, my head. What hit me?_ I wondered groggily once I finally came to my senses again and slowly opened my eyes. My vision was still pretty blurry though so it was hard to make anything out at first, but for some reason it felt like I was just waking up from another bad dream; the kind I couldn't remember that left this awful sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach. I couldn't really remember what I'd been doing up until that point before falling asleep either which was just as unnerving. All I knew for sure was that I was in ghost form floating somewhere high above the ground for some random reason. My ears were ringing too which wasn't making it any easier to figure things out. Maybe I overdid it after training and dozed off somewhere? I wasn't entirely sure...

Either way, when I tried to remember what happened, I had this horrible feeling I did something bad. I felt tense, anxious, and there were warning bells going off in my head telling me that something was very wrong here. That would explain why I woke up on high alert, just like all those times my ghost sense woke me up in the middle of the night and my body automatically snapped into battle mode. Where the heck was I anyway? This place didn't look familiar or anything like the forest where I...where I what? What was I doing out there before this...?

After that the memories slowly started coming back to me and I remembered at least a couple of things such as practicing one of Vlad's techniques he taught me after our session today somewhere out in the woods a bit more on my own. But other then that, I wasn't sure what else happened. It was all a vague blur, just like when Freakshow kept hypnotizing me with that weird magical staff thing that he used to control ghosts and make them steal stuff for him. Did I sleepwalk somewhere random again? Or maybe this was all a dream?

While wondering all of this, that's when I heard the screaming as soon as my ears stopped ringing and immediately snapped to attention. I wasn't sure what was going on, but I had a job to do so without thinking, I automatically flew through the clouds to get my bearings so I could find out who needed my help then immediately froze on the spot. "This is...Amity Park!? But how did I get here!? And why does it look like-!"

Up until now, I've seen Amity Park in pretty bad shape more than once after a ghost attack or a full-scale invasion, but this was freaking off-the-charts bad. There was smoke rising from dozens of ruined buildings and the sky was almost pitch black with the stuff. No wonder I couldn't see anything before from behind the clouds! But I didn't see or sense any ghosts nearby so how could it have gotten this bad? What the heck happened?!

Then, looking down at my white gloves, I felt the faint but familiar tingle of recently using some powerful ecto-energy so for a split second I panicked and wondered if...I did this. No way, there was just no way I could have done this! For starters I couldn't have possibly been so out of it that I managed to get myself here from all the way back in Wisconsin without snapping out of it long before now, especially before I did something this messed up.

Even considering the few times I've caught myself sleepwalking lately now that I was close to a ghost portal again back in Vlad's castle, I always managed to come to my senses and pretend like it never happened. This had to be another stupid nightmare. Yeah, that's it! I was dreaming again after overdoing it and dozing off somewhere in the woods probably so all I had to do was wake up then this would all go away!

I was about to try pinching myself when suddenly my blood ran cold, or rather my ghost sense finally went off when a familiar presence accompanied a voice I knew all too well, chuckled as he appeared in front of me, "Ah, look who's finally awake. I like what you've done with the place, don't you Danny?"

My chest started hurting a bit when it tightened as the anxiety of seeing Dan again set in, but at the same time, I wasn't buying his little act this time. He was just trying to mess with my head again, so while trying to appear calmer than I actually was, I crossed my arms and shot back, "Nice try Dan, but there's no way I did this! You're just trying to trick me again! This is just another one of those stupid mind games when you keep putting stuff in my head from your timeline to mess with me! It can't be real!"

Raising an eyebrow, Dan smiled at me coyly and argued, "Oh really? Are you sure about that? After all, you don't even remember how you got here, do you? Who knows, maybe you went on a destructive tirade and ruined your precious town while trying to defeat the ghost of an enemy that was never really there. Like me for instance? So how do you really know none of this is real, Danny...? And how do you know whether or not I am real, hmm? For all you know, I'm just another figment of your nightmares. A waking nightmare. And this-" spreading his arm in an arc to gesture at the ruined town below our feet, he continued triumphantly, "-is just another careless mistake you've made that's ruined everyone else's lives because you can't tell the difference between a nightmare and reality anymore."

"SHUT UP! I didn't do this! You're lying! I would never-!?" After that, the memories of what really happened suddenly came rushing back to me and I gripped my head when it felt like it was about to split open and cried out in pain.

I remembered how I ended up attacking Skulker, chasing him through the woods, and then after we beat the crap out of each other for awhile I decided to stop playing around as soon as he called me out on enjoying it. Sure I knew I was getting stronger, but the way I obliterated Skulker like that was just...I went too far, WAY too far. I'll admit that at first, it did feel kinda good to finally give him a taste of his own medicine, but what I did was seriously messed up. But what happened after that? The last thing I remember after Skulker's suit was destroyed was flying into a panic and then...nothing.

"Pity, looks like the cat's out of the bag," Dan snickered floating closer to me with his hands behind his back, leaning down and looking at me as if he knew exactly what I was thinking, which he probably did. "This is the welcome home present I prepared especially for you. Amity is in ruin because the whole time you were off having fun with Vlad on your little vacation I was here preparing the scenery for you. Some protector you turned out to be. You left the defense of this town to a second-rate hunter and your parents, YOUR PARENTS, Danny. They'd be lucky if they could best the Box Ghost! And I'm afraid your dear friend Valerie is no Danny Phantom. Don't get me wrong she's capable, but she has obvious limits. She can barely keep up with everything you used to on a daily basis for these ingrates. Unlike the two of us, Valerie has never faced the true possibility of death or mortal danger because her so-called _'job'_ as a ghost hunter usually only meant she would fight whatever ghosts were left over after our nightly patrols whenever they happened across her path. Well now she knows what it means to throw everything else away to do what needs to be done at least to some degree. I wonder though...how high a price will Valerie be willing to pay before the cost becomes too high and she realizes for the first time that SHE was the villain all along and never cared about anyone but herself?"

I didn't like the sound of that at all, he was planning something and wasn't even trying to hide it. I wasn't about to let anything else happen though! Not on my watch! I wouldn't let him hurt anyone else! So despite the horrible throbbing in my head I looked up at him, grit my teeth and told Dan, "I'll stop you Dan, you know I will. I'll make you pay for everything you've done here! I won't let you get away with this!"

With another low guttural chuckle, Dan replied menacingly, "Oh, you're welcome to try, Danny! Here, give it your best shot! Go on, do it. Put your all into a single strike and put an end to me once and for all! You sound confident enough, so this should be easy for you. Then again, let's face it Danny, the only reason why all these other ghosts have gotten away with making a mess of this town before I did is because you're too weak. You have all this power, but you never unleash its full potential to strike enough fear into your enemies to let them know you're someone they don't want to mess with. You go too easy on them, on your enemies, and they use it against you! Everyone does! They use that weakness you call _'kindness'_ to walk all over you. And right now...even your future self is calling you out on not having what it takes to kill your worst enemy to actually save anyone. Care to prove me wrong...?"

I wanted to attack him so badly after that. My whole being was screaming at me to strike him down, to put Dan in his place just like I did with Skulker. To tell you the truth I surprised even myself in the forest back there because of how easy it was for me to take him down a few notches. So this should be even easier since Dan actually IS evil in every sense of the word, whereas Skulker was just a big pain in the butt...right?

So then...why am I hesitating?

I looked at Dan and all of my previous determination vanished. In the end, I was no match for Dan by myself. I got lucky last time with my Ghostly Wail, but he knew I was capable of it now, so my element of surprise was gone. T-this is who I wanted to take care of single-handedly? Me? I'm just a kid who thought he could take on a bonafide monster who destroyed the entire world, not just one town, and it was only now that I realized I was going to be eaten alive by my own worse enemy.

Myself.

I lost this fight with Dan before it ever really began; and now everyone else in the world was going to pay for my mistake because I didn't have the courage to do what needed to be done even if it meant I had to sacrifice myself so that Dan could never threaten anyone ever again. But here he was, right in front of me, and all the pain and agony I suffered through trying to make sure I would never have to confront him again amounted to nothing. He was right. I'm too weak, any strength I had before was nothing compared to the raw power he had at his disposal. And with that, I lowered my fist and slumped to the ground, the light leaving my eyes as an overwhelming feeling of hopelessness enveloped me.

Floating down along with me and landing lightly on the ground too, Dan lifted me back onto my feet by the arm and in a mock-sincere tone of voice he added, "Smart boy, so you do learn! You can sense that as things currently stand between us, you're no match for me even with all those little tips and tricks that old coot taught you. Things won't play out like they did before, I can assure you that. Maybe you should see this as a blessing though, Danny. It would make the transition easier for you and spare you more needless suffering."

Mustering the energy to look up at him I shot him a confused look and asked in a monotone, "A blessing? How on earth could I see this as a blessing? I'm a failure...I've always been nothing but a disappointment to everyone, even the only other person like me..."

It was freaky how his voice actually sounded almost...affectionate when Dan told me in response, "Simple. Think back on your life these last couple of years. What has all of this gotten you? Pain. Both physical and mental. Sorrow, doubt, neglect. The list goes on. This town owes you everything, but it has given you NOTHING in return! You owe these people absolutely nothing Danny, not even your friends and family. I've seen what Vlad has been teaching you, and he's right. It's okay to be selfish. For once in your life, be selfish! The people you protect have been selfish this whole time after all, even long after you stopped protecting them they relied on someone else for protection instead of getting their own hands dirty. You're a hero to them one minute, but all it takes is one mistake or moment of weakness for you to become the villain in their eyes all over again and you'll never be good enough no matter how hard you try. They would only see you as Phantom and never Fenton even if you did come clean and tell them your secret because that's all they care about, your powers and how you use them for their sake. But lets face it, most of them would likely reject you just like your parents did, or they'll continue to use you until there's nothing left of the person you are right now. They all secretly -whether they admit openly it or not- despise ghosts, yet they happily accept the protection you provide. If you ever revealed yourself though, I can assure you that even your normal life as a human would come to an abrupt end. Praise is cheap after all. The affections of the populace you protect will never last."

His smile widening, Dan continued, "So my blessing here is for you to see the gift I am offering you. Join me, submit now to end the agony once and for all! Or, we can always do it the hard way which you usually prefer and wait to see what unfolds once they realize their long lost hero has returned and then everyone unjustly places the blame on you like they always do for all of this. Let it gnaw at you more and fill your heart with guilt and despair as this town and its inhabitants burn while you are left standing here feeling sorry for yourself and conflicted about whether or not you should be saving them and damning them to their fate. You know I'm right, Danny. And in the end you are destined to submit to me either way. It's only a matter of time. It might take some convincing, but I'd be all too happy to show you how wrong you are about continuing to suffer a meaningless existence like that when you are destined for great things. Trust me, I'm doing us both a favor by ending this useless struggle here and now. And this time...you don't have to do anything but watch."

 _Watch?_ I asked myself, trying to fight against this horrible sinking feeling of despair that threatened to make me forget everything I stood for to the point where I almost began to consider the idea that anything he was saying was true or worth listening to. _He expects me to...watch him destroy everything and not at least try to stop him? No way. Even if I can't stop him, even if he is stronger then me, I have to at least try!_

I know I felt like I'd already lost this battle for a minute there, but as soon as he finished his dumb speech I knew I needed to get my act back together, fast. If Dan seriously thought for one second I was going to just sit back and watch him get away with anything else he had another thing coming! There was still some fight left in me so after shaking my head I tried to turn intangible to get away from him, but in response he just made his hand intangible too to keep a hold of me and Dan continued to smile at me in amusement as he watched me flounder while trying to free myself from his monstrous grip on my arm.

So in a last ditch effort to get away, I shouted, "Screw you, Dan! I'm not going to sit back and watch you hurt anybody else and kill everyone I care about! If you seriously think I would ever let you do that just because I know I'm no match for you, then you're dumber then you look! I'm not so far gone that I'd ever let you do something like that! I'd rather die first!"

He sighed sadly, releasing his grip on me which stunned me since I hadn't expected him to give up so easily and stumbled back a little. Dan took advantage of my confusion though and a terrifying feral grin spread across his face as he reached a hand towards me, rushed forward, then grabbed my whole face in his hand while laughing evilly as soon as he saw my panicked expression. "I was hoping you'd say that. But seeing as I can't let you die yet, we'll do the next best thing. Because the fact of the matter is, you're already a part of me as much as I'm a part of you, so you really don't have much of a choice. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show Danny. I know I will..."

After that, it felt almost as bad as the first time I was overshadowed by a ghost, specifically the ghost of Sidney Poindexter when I was just starting out with the super hero thing. Just like back then, it felt like every part of my body was rebelling against me as something or someone else tried wrestling control of it away from me like a puppet on strings; only this was much worse because every inch of my body felt like it was being electrified.

For all I knew, maybe it was, but unfortunately I was screaming too loudly to tell and had my eyes shut tight. Honestly, it felt more like when my parents shot me or when Vlad was torturing me while trying to force me to transform in that pod-thing. The only thing that existed for me was pain and the longer I fought against it the worse it became, but fight I did because even though I almost gave up for a minute back there, it wasn't over just yet...not by a long shot!

I-I could still fight back for as long as possible to buy a little more time. At some point Vlad was bound to notice something was wrong and that I was missing then he'd come help me. I just knew he would! And because I knew I wasn't alone this time around, that gave me the strength to keep struggling against Dan's control. As soon as I realized Vlad was on my side and this wasn't like Dan's timeline when he was still a selfish jerk, I found some comfort knowing that. Besides, my parents were probably out there right now protecting the townsfolk too, at least to the best of their abilities, because they always did their best to help when things got really bad. They aren't as useless as Dan thinks they are! And thanks to Vlad's ghost shields all over town I knew my friends were probably safe at school and at least a few parts of town were still intact despite Dan trying to tell me the whole place was in ruin like what was right in front of me.

Either way I quickly reminded myself that I couldn't afford to worry about anyone else right now! This was a one on one battle between me and Dan that I had to win no matter what! I had to keep fighting to the bitter end! And if I failed this time, despite Clockwork telling me otherwise, I'm sure he had some sort of back up plan or something else in mind to stop Dan from making history repeat itself. He just had to! So even if that plan was only to make sure Vlad made it here in time to stop Dan from making me kill everyone I left this town to protect, I was ok with that and had to keep on believing that somehow this wasn't the end. Even if I lost my sense of self, lost control of my ghost half, Vlad would find me and help me like he has since this all started...and this time, I had faith in him...

 _The only person you need to believe in now...is yourself Danny. I'll take care of those pests standing in the way of our new future together, starting with your old would-be girlfriend Valerie Grey._ Dan said directly into my mind just when the pain became too intense to handle and I started blacking out again. _Only, for now I think you should leave most of the actual thinking to your better half, wouldn't you agree...? You'll thank me for this later, I promise. I'm saving us both the trouble later on. Beside, I can't wait to personally watch Valerie crash and burn once that little girl realizes how outmatched she is after at least seeing how she's changed since our last meeting in the future out of curiosity. Still, I hope she can still put up a decent fight, or this won't be any fun at all._

* * *

Val's POV

 _Shortly before Dan's arrival..._

As much as I hate to admit it after Phantom ran off things became much harder to deal with around here. And that was making it difficult to find the spare time to search for clues about where he could have taken Danny. I know his parents are doing everything they can too, but frankly they have a lot more to worry about then I do since Danny is their son and they're supposed to be professional ghost hunters. I can't even begin to imagine how much pain they must be in about Danny being gone and mine paled in comparison, but I couldn't afford the luxury of beating myself up about letting something like this happen to him on my watch when there were actual ghosts who needed a serious beat down...

Honestly, I had no idea there were this many ghosts around before. I guess that means Phantom was at least good for SOMETHING and used to keep them busy if nothing else. Really though, with him gone too it's probably only thanks to Vlad's anti-ghost shields and the Fenton's efforts trying to help out around here more often with this ghost infestation that I've been able to keep up with all this ghost hunting business by myself. But even then I was stretched pretty thin between hunting them down, finishing my school work, and going to my part-time jobs.

Vlad Masters gave me some work back when this whole thing started and that paid extremely well, but since he was a busy man and had the important job of finding Danny I didn't want to be selfish and bother him while he's busy with that. If anyone could find him though, I'm sure Vlad Masters could because he was a great man who cares a lot about the Fenton family since he's an old college buddy of Danny's dad. Even so, I really wish from the bottom of my heart that there was some way I could help more then I was right now.

After Danny was publicly reported missing when Mr. Masters retired from his duties as Mayor and I saw how broken up his sister and friends were about it, I felt awful and hated myself for not being able to protect him. I mean I only decided to keep hunting ghosts because I wanted to protect Danny. Then again, when I stopped to think about it later on I realized that sadly I have no control over who his parents are and they probably had a few ghostly enemies of their own, one of which included Phantom, so he would have been at risk regardless of whether or not I took up ghost hunting again.

Between how horrible I felt about not protecting Danny and how overworked I was some particularly bad days, I even ended up in the hospital for awhile. And I hated every minute of it because the longer I was cooped up inside laying in bed, the more havoc those stupid ghosts were causing! Granted, Danny's parents had their moments, but his dad especially wasn't all that great at fighting and besides...I'd much rather be the one fighting them by myself so they could focus on helping my dad protect the town and turn their attention back to helping Danny. Its been almost four months now since he went missing and I'm extremely worried about him. Fenton is much tougher than he let on, but who knows what that Phantom jerk has done to him!

Nearly crushing the pencil in my hand, I thought angrily, _As soon as I get my hands on that creep I'm gonna-!_

"Miss Grey, please try not to ruin another pencil, I'm running out of spares," Mr. Lancer chimed in, noticing the angry look on my face.

I couldn't help it though! It's been way too quiet around here aside from a few stragglers so it set me on edge thinking that either the ghosts were up to something, or Phantom was back in town. Either way, I blushed a bit and loosened my death grip on the flimsy piece of wood and muttered, "Sorry Mr. Lancer..."

Sighing heavily, Mr. Lancer closed his textbook and replied, "Are you sure you won't reconsider accepting some grief counseling Miss Grey? I know Danny's disappearance has been hard on you, but you need to move on, it's what he would want you to do. And besides, Mr. Master's and Danny's parents are working very hard with the police to find him so I'm sure something will turn up one way or another."

Rolling my eyes I scoffed, "I don't need a shrink, Mr. Lancer, Danny's sister Jazz already helps me enough with that sort of thing. Besides, the last councilor we had only made people feel worse. So thanks but no thanks, I think I'm good."

"Well...alright, I suppose that's better than nothing," he sighed again, rubbing his temples and looking at the clock like the rest of us were since we all wanted to escape this hell hole.

Exam days were always like this provided we weren't attacked by ghosts in the middle of it. Thankfully that hasn't happened since Vlad had the spare shield from Axion Labs installed here to protect the entire school campus since it was a hot spot for ghosts for some reason. Well, unless you count that one time some dingus managed to turn it off somehow and a few ghosts managed to get inside. I took care of them though before they could cause any serious damage or hurt someone. Still, it was like exam days were cursed because something bad ALWAYS seemed to happen before the end of the day-

And today was no different.

* * *

It was around 6th period that we were shaken, literally, by an explosion outside so immediately we rushed to the window to see what was happening. We couldn't see much but there was lots of smoke rising from the direction of town and I knew something serious was up when the ghost shield activated and we were encased by its pale blue glow. That was usually my cue to sneak out of class to take care of whoever was causing the problem. This time though things looked pretty bad when even more explosions started going off all over town one right after another. And sure enough even from here I could see ecto-energy blasts going off in bright flashes of green.

 _Of course, mid term exams, all of our exams are doomed after all to be interrupted by ghosts! It'll be a miracle if ANY of us graduate at the rate things are going,_ I scowled just as our teacher called for our attention and told us to follow her to the gym for our own safety. Everyone else of course immediately followed her because no matter how minor the attack they always freaked out, especially Dash who talked big but at heart, he was a big softie. I knew that even back when we were friends but since I was dating his best friend Kwan I never said anything, it wasn't any of my business anyway.

Either way I hung towards the back of the group on purpose which was usually where Danny and his friends were too, but lately Sam and Tucker have been following the crowd and were being a lot more careful ever since Foley broke his arm trying to stop Technus, that freaky computer ghost who took control of my old suit and tried to frame me and even attacked Danny with it! As much as I'd like to blame Phantom for that, as much as he's ruined my life and made a mess of this town I've never seen him go after any normal people. At least, not until he abducted Danny and I swear to you I'm going to tear him apart for that! I don't care what Manson or Foley says about Phantom being a hero who never hurt anyone, all ghosts were trouble and needed someone like me around to stop them from doing whatever they wanted and hurting innocent people...

I was about to slip away from the group when suddenly, the fire alarm went off when something hit the ghost shield outside directly and people started to panic again and those who hadn't already left their classrooms came rushing out in droves, screaming and shoving each other while trying to get away from whatever was attacking the school. I managed to get out of the way for the most part by backing up against some lockers so that they could run past me, but when I started running in the opposite direction to activate my battle suit without looking where I was going, I ran headfirst into someone and fell unceremoniously to the ground. When I looked up to give them a piece of my mind despite the panic everyone was feeling though...my heart stopped.

"Danny...? No, i-it can't be!" I gasped while watching him start running away from me the moment I looked up. I'd know the back of that boring red and white shirt anywhere, it was Danny's favorite thing to wear.

In my head, I knew this was most likely some sort of sick joke, a trick, but I didn't care! I had to make sure Danny was alright and that Phantom wasn't using him to get to me if he was still possessing him. Now it all made sense! Phantom finally snapped and came back to get his revenge on the town for turning their backs on him when they stopped treating him like a hero or something stupid like that, or maybe he wanted to draw out Danny's parents and get back at them for shooting him. But if he was here and still had Danny in his clutches, then I had to know either way so I could finally save him! And once Danny was safe, Phantom was a goner!

Recovering from the shock, I immediately gave chase and saw Danny or his look-alike use the nearest fire escape to get outside after shoving the door open with his shoulder, but unfortunately, I lost sight of him after that. I knew I had a better chance of finding him from the air so since we were already outside I activated my suit and hover-board then flew up high so I could get a better view of the surrounding area. What I didn't realize though, was that he hadn't left my side. He was still right there beside me all along, laying in wait to strike as soon as we were far enough away from the nearest ghost shield so that I couldn't escape to safety. I realized this all too late though, and soon it started to feel like I was the one being hunted this time. Phantom seemed to finally want to settle the score between us once and for all. Fine, I was game, once I beat him Fenton could be freed from his control...and he'd finally be safe back home where he belonged.


	69. Let The Hunt Begin

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (5/4/2019):** Oh boy, a lot of planning has gone into the finale and things are about to get insane up in here! I had a blast writing this with the help of my beta reader and we're only getting this party started! Also, thanks again for the recent reviews, they've helped keep me motivated because trust me, tracking down all my notes for some amazing dramatic or tragic scenes I wrote along with my beta reader well in advance wasn't easy. And we're still working on other parts of the story even now even though the rest of the story is more or less already planned out. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this action-filled chapter and will continue to support me until the bitter end! Oh, and just so you know this chapter is 16 pages long! You're welcome!

 **P.S.(5/6/2019)** I know there's a lot going on here which may have gotten a little confusing for you guys since we went all out coming up with this upcoming fight scene, but I noticed that I repeated some similar phrases which started to really bug me so I went back and fixed them.

* * *

Chapter 68: Let The Hunt Begin

(Chapter inspired by Drown by Bring Me The Horizon)

* * *

Val's POV

I can't remember the last time I felt my heart hammering so fast. I looked all over for Danny since I knew he couldn't have gotten far on foot, especially if that really was him I saw. I knew there are bigger things to worry about right now with the town being under attack, but I decided to risk it since my dad and Danny's parents could handle it on their own at least long enough for me to find him first...

My search eventually led me to the park where I once attacked Phantom and his stupid ghost dog that ruined my life and I could faintly make out someone walking down there so I flew lower to the ground to get a better look at them and then landed after retracting my hoverboard. When I approached him though I'm honestly not sure which feeling was stronger, the hopeful feeling that I might be able to finally save Danny, or the satisfaction of finally proving to everyone that Phantom was an evil ghost just like all the others so people would stop thinking he's something he's not, a hero. Because at the end of the day, Phantom is nothing but a homewrecker and a troublemaker and I still think we're better off without him!

Even though it was the middle of the day, the sky was black with smoke and storm clouds were starting to gather. There was so much raw ecto-energy lingering in the air too that it was hard to use my sensors to track down Phantom if he was nearby so I had to rely on eyesight alone to look for Danny who may or may not even be real since my sensors weren't designed to detect humans, just ghosts. So either way, I was going in there totally blind.

Eventually, I spotted him though and slowly walked up to Danny, or his look-alike at any rate if this was some sick joke on Phantom's part. But at the same time, I wanted to believe with all of my heart that this really was Danny as soon as I saw that familiar head of raven black hair gently swaying in the wind as cold ashes fell like snow all around us and he slowed to a halt.

Despite trying to stay calm and alert so I'd be ready for any of Phantom's underhanded tricks, a ton of different emotions gripped my heart as it sunk in that if this wasn't the real Danny in front of me, that meant I was willingly walking headfirst into a trap. But the thing is...I didn't really care. I had to see him again. I had to see Danny's face so I'd know he hadn't suffered some horrific fate while in Phantom's clutches.

I was tried not to sound too emotional, but unfortunately, my voice cracked as soon as I asked him, "Danny...? Is that really you? Where have you been all this time? Are you hurt? I've...missed you so much. How did you get here? Do your parents know? Or are you still hiding from something? Please, I can help you! Just tell me what's going on first and we'll figure something out!"

He didn't respond.

He didn't even turn to face me so I swallowed past the lump in my throat and stepped in front of him to look him face to face and once I did there was no mistaking it. This WAS Danny, no doubt about it. But his eyes...they were so empty, lifeless, and completely clouded over to the point where I wondered if he even recognized me or knew who I was since his gaze was completely unfocused like he couldn't even see me. There was probably a number of reasons for that, each more terrible than the last as I imagined the terrible things he's probably been going through these past four months ever since Phantom kidnapped him...

The only thing that mattered now though was that Danny was here, he was finally home; so without thinking, I hugged him tightly just to convince myself he was real. After a minute or so of doing this, I held Danny at arm's length as I furrowed my brows and promised, "Don't worry Danny, I won't let Phantom find you or hurt you anymore! I don't know how you managed to get away from him but let's get you out of here before he-"

I stopped midsentence when I saw his hair fall over his eyes as he lowered his head, thinking if Danny was going to finally say something to me. And for a split second I could have sworn I saw some sort of...glowing cracks on the sides of his face. But I wasn't sure if I really saw anything since it happened so fast. _.._

 _What the heck was that?_ I wondered, but no sooner had I finished that thought that before I could react in time, Danny suddenly stepped back from me then swung his fist at me! I was so taken aback by his attack that I didn't dodge it in time so he hit me hard across the side of my face and recoiled from the blow, staring at him in shock.

"Danny, it's me! Remember? It's Valerie! Don't you recognize me? I know I never told you I was the Red Huntress but-!" Again I didn't get the chance to finish what I was saying because Danny kept swinging his fists at me so instinctively I went on the defensive and blocked his next attack using my arms just as my martial arts training taught me to in this kind of situation.

I didn't want to hurt him though so I didn't immediately launch a counter attack. That's when I realized that Danny was either totally disoriented and confused right now, or that damned Phantom was still controlling him! And I had a bad feeling it was the latter. Because unless Danny was just scared and was blindly attacking me because the sudden physical contact we made when I hugged him made Danny think he had to defend himself by lashing out at me, then I knew he'd never try to hurt me on purpose.

No matter what I said to convince him everything was ok though Danny never responded. And eventually, he started adding more force to his swings so I had no choice but to fight back. I felt awful hitting him since I really didn't want to hurt him, but I had to remind myself that this was for his own good! If I could just knock Danny out and bring him to his parents then maybe they could-!?

All of a sudden as Danny's hands and mine were interlocked in a struggle for dominance, and it was shocking how strong he had gotten for such a scrawny guy, then my eyes widened as a ring of light appeared around his waist and split apart into two. And as soon as each ring finished moving along his upper and lower half respectively, his entire appearance changed into- "You!?"

There was no mistaking it, replacing Danny was Phantom standing right in front of me! I'd never seen anything like this before or knew ghosts could do something like this! Sure I've heard that ghosts can possess people, but I thought my new suit protected me from that sort of thing since the old one didn't as far as I know. And Danny's parents had gadgets to protect themselves against possession too.

While it's true that I've learned a lot more about ghosts recently from fighting them more often, I didn't know they could make people change their appearance! So wait, did that mean he was just mimicking Danny? Or was it the other way around and Phantom's ghost powers changed how Danny himself looked and they just seemed that similar to me at first glance...?

Seeing Phantom appear right before my eyes and replace Danny really shook me up and it made me question how much I really knew about ghosts. But unfortunately, my brief lapse in focus cost me dearly when he abruptly broke through my battle stance and won our little hand wrestling match. With a powerful heave, Phantom lifted me off the ground and sent me flying into the air and then he came rushing after me a few seconds later. I crashed to the ground and felt my teeth jitter in my head but I quickly regained my composure and pushed myself upright. Sparing no room for thought I charged at him before he could get to me first and threw a right feint as soon as I got into melee range, Phantom went to counter my attack and the air was all that greeted him. I went low and swept his legs in a roundabout way using the momentum to bring myself back up into a proper battle stance and knocked him off his feet. As he fell I brought my fists together into a ball and drove him into the concrete with the force of my attack. I didn't let up as I saw my opening and got on top of Phantom while he was sprawled out on the ground and rained blow after blow on him. If I kept control of the fight like this he'd HAVE to let Fenton go! Gradually I felt him start to resist, his body tensed up and he started to fight back with slow deliberate blows to my sides.

 _Ugh! This isn't working, I need to switch things up!_ Hopping back a few steps, I rushed at him, tripped him again, and reached for a tuft of Phantom's white hair and dragged him to his feet. I sent a heavy punch into his stomach and saw him grimace and this maneuver sent him to his knees, along with a solid kick to his knees for good measure just to make sure he was down for the count.

After that, I angrily snarled, "I didn't expect you to come crawling back here willingly Phantom, but thanks for making things easier for me by showing up on your own so I didn't have to hunt you down myself. Now I can teach you a lesson you'll never forget! I know you're holding someone hostage that I care about ghost punk, and I want him back! I'm not stopping until you release him either so prepare yourself for the beat down of your afterlife!"

Even though I said that, I felt bad knowing that indirectly I was beating up on Danny whether his body was possessed by ghost or not. As good as it felt showing this phony hero who's boss, I needed to end this before things got out of hand and I went too far and hurt Danny too seriously...

Sucking in breath to prepare my attack, I launched a knee towards him, hoping to knock him out cold and mentally winced, _Sorry in advance for the headache you're going to have later, Danny. But you'll thank me for this once you're-! WHAT?_ Without warning, my attack was stopped dead in its tracks inches before making contact when Phantom caught my knee with just one hand. And I was having the hardest time freeing it from his monstrous grip.

"Nnng, let go of me you creep!" I shouted with a slight twinge of desperation creeping into my voice. It was like a vice grip, and if Phantom held onto it any harder I was certain he'd easily be able to shatter my kneecap. But the most unnerving thing about the compromising position I found myself in wasn't how strong Phantom's grip was, it was the way he was staring up at me with those cold, unfeeling eyes like nothing else mattered to him anymore, nothing but death and destruction. A powerful chill ran down my spine looking into their glowing green depths because it was clear now that he meant serious business.

Thankfully Phantom was kind enough to help me out by refusing to let up on my knee to stop my previous attack, and since his other hand was too busy holding him up that meant he couldn't launch a counter attack either; meaning we were at a stalemate. _Fine, since he seems to like holding onto that knee so tightly, I'll just give him the other one! Yeah, this might still work if I just-! HA!  
_

I countered by kicking myself up with the other leg and launching it straight towards his jaw. _Got you!_ I thought victoriously even though my knee hadn't made contact yet. However, the cold ground greeted me a minute later instead and I laid there on my stomach totally stunned. I suffered some scrapes on my arms from the force of impact but thankfully these injuries were nothing too serious.

What just happened?! I had him! Rewinding it in my head though, it dawned on me. Ugh, Phantom must have let me go at the last second and thanks to the strength of my forward momentum I sprawled to the ground after messing up my counterattack. It was a pretty desperate move on my part anyway I've gotta admit, but either way it served its purpose because now I was free. I still had to find some another way to take him down before things escalated again.

Dusting myself off as I brought myself to my feet again, I looked over my shoulder and noticed Phantom was slowly walking towards me. His defenses were down and he was in no hurry to make it over to me, but I suddenly started to feel like I was being toyed with. I needed to calm down before he made his next move because I could feel my heart thumping hard in my chest again as a sense of dread threatened to make me lose my cool which would disastrous and only make it easier for me to make even more careless mistakes and the next one could cost me my life. So after finding my center I took long, slow, and measured breaths as he approached me to get my head back in the game. I couldn't afford to lose my composure again, especially not now.

 _Not yet, not yet,_ I calmly told myself as he slowly advanced towards me. He was getting closer now. _Yeah, just a little bit closer and...Now!_

Whirling around to face him again I sprinted down the middle of the path in front of us straight towards him, but Phantom caught me off guard by taking the offensive and rushing at me at the same time then attacked with a quick volley of blows. I narrowly missed them in time before any of them made contact, and then I used his shoulders as a platform as I vaulted over him and landed directly behind him.

Thankfully an attack from the front wasn't the plan this time, but the sleeper-hold I pinned on him was. I snapped it on him and watched as Phantom struggled in vain to resist it, likely not even considering the fact that he could just phase out of my grip which was good news for me. _That's right. Fight it, you'll only make it work faster punk! Soon your own body weight will start working against you and you'll be out like a light Phantom.  
_

Phantom flailed and fought hard to escape the hold I had on him, he even made several attempts to grab me to force me off, but I kept the rest of my body as distant as I could from his grasp. Soon he was back on his knees and I could feel his pulse slow as consciousness ebbed from him. I'm lucky he even HAD a pulse while possessing my friend Danny, otherwise, I wasn't sure if this sort of technique would work on a ghost. After his movements started to slow I chanced a look at him and saw his eyes closing until finally they finished their decent and he went limp in my arms.

 _Good, and just like that, it's nap time._ Reaching over cautiously, I raised one of his arms and let it drop a couple of times just to be sure Phantom was out cold. Once I felt confident enough that he was, I eased up on the sleep-hold grip and went to grab him by the arms to drag him somewhere safe to tie him up or something when his body jerked back to life and took me by surprise! Berating myself I quickly realized, _No!_ _Darn it! I'm such an idiot! I should have realized that only Danny would fall unconscious! Phantom is still in there controlling his body! I just made things worse since Danny can't resist Phantom's control if he's unconscious!_

After he broke free from me again, Phantom turned and with renewed strength, he fought ruthlessly against me like some kind of demon and I struggled in vain to regain control over him. I felt him drive an elbow into my stomach which knocked the wind out of me, and another which had me doubling over onto myself, gasping for air and sputtering. I mused over karma and how grabbing his hair earlier might have been the best idea, because the gesture was repaid as he lifted me back onto my feet by my hair which was noticeably longer and that made it even more painful for me then it was to him.

 _He's enjoying this. I can't believe that even Phantom could be so cruel! I tried to play nice for once and give him the benefit of the doubt but clearly Phantom's too far gone to see reason anymore. And all I wanted to do is save you from him, Danny. Save you from this monster, but I'm failing you right now and I hate it. I HATE IT!_ A wave of anger surged through me and I lashed out with everything ounce of strength I had left in my body and I directed all of it at him.

I scored a solid hit and kept raining relentless blows until my anger finally subsided. My futile effort though to get the upper hand again was met with a solid gaze and not the slightest hint of injury or weakness. So I had to wonder...have I really been hurting him this whole time? Or did I just get lucky before? Was it only Danny I was hurting by fighting this way? The thought of only hurting him while this freak got off scott-free without so much as a scratch made me feel sick to my stomach. Not even Phantom would do something that heartless to someone I care about just to get back at me for hunting him for so long, would he...?

Phantom and I have never really fought in such close quarters or this heated before so honestly I wasn't sure WHAT he was capable of. But, I've gotten so much better at defending this town in his absence, that's why if nothing else I knew I was holding out against his inhuman strength so far at least which meant I wasn't entirely helpless like I used to be. So either Phantom was just toying with me after all, or maybe he wasn't expecting me to be so quick and aggressive which is the only reason why I started off so strong during our fight. And now that he knew I was taking this fight seriously too Phantom was going all out.

Either way, it was a bad idea to keep fighting him like this, especially without thinking things through first. I could see that now. The other ghosts I've fought up until now were stronger than a regular person sure, but my quick thinking and martial arts always helped me beat them so the fact that I was losing so badly right now meant that I couldn't afford to pull my punches anymore. Phantom was something else, he was way smarter then them and his power was on a whole different level than theirs, that's why it was unnerving that my attacks weren't having ANY effect on a more powerful adversary.

If they don't work on Phantom then...

 _This is bad, I have to get away from him and take this fight to the sky. At least up there we'll be more evenly matched! But I don't know what to do now; he's got me pinned._ It felt like he sensed my intentions or at the very least finally decided what to do with me next, cause Phantom abruptly let go of my hair, grabbed me by the arms, and spun me around like a carousel. Faster and faster we spun until he launched me into the air with startling velocity.

 _Here goes nothing!_ As soon as I was high enough in the air I deployed my hoverboard mid-flight and quickly fought against my inertia as I steadied myself and came to a stop amidst the thick storm clouds still gathering in the sky. And after taking a second to breathe and clear my head I promised myself, _I won't leave your side, Danny. I'll do whatever it takes to free you from Phantom's grasp! I promise! I'll get the real you out, somehow! Even if I can't beat him today I swear I'll find you again. I won't lose you again!  
_

It took Phantom a few extra seconds to catch up with me and find me in the cloud cover and I used this to my advantage and made a sharp turn and came rushing at him instead just like before back on the ground when we were fighting hand to hand. If fighting all of these ghosts for the past few months has taught me anything, its that if I'm not quick on my feet then most of my enemies wouldn't hesitate to take advantage of any weakness I showed and most would go in for the kill. I guess Phantom was no different from them now that he's officially lost his mind. After activating my laser pods, I began shooting a volley of energy beams at him, but my only goal here was to either force Phantom to leave Danny's body to save his own sorry skin, which was the only reason why he abducted Danny in the first place, or chase him off so I could regroup with my dad and we could let his parents know Phantom was back in town so they could help me rescue their son...

I remember back when I first went to confront Danny's parents after Vlad made his announcement and informed us that he'd been kidnapped by a ghost. I pressed them for details on what really happened to Danny until finally, they told me the truth. The truth that Phantom was the ghost who wandered into their house that day and they shot him with their newest weapon while unaware at the time that he was possessing Danny until they heard the scream and found blood in his room when their chase led them there. And as soon as they finished telling me the whole story, his mom started crying hysterically which surprised me and I wasn't sure how to comfort her. After all, my mom left me and dad a long time ago so I wasn't used to having a mom around. Still, I couldn't blame her either for getting that upset that they hurt Danny indirectly, but seeing such a strong woman break down like that was downright heartbreaking. If I hurt someone I cared about I'd be pretty upset too. That's why I was trying so hard not to hurt Phantom too badly despite wanting to seriously mess him up because he was holding a friend of mine hostage. Once Danny was in the clear though I was going to reduce this freak into a puddle of ectoplasmic goo and make him wish he'd never been formed or however ghosts come into existence.

I chased Phantom down for awhile, shooting him with a barrage of attacks from my laser pods because I was hoping to tire him out somehow, but it wasn't long before he went back on the offensive and blew them up with a few well-aimed ecto-energy attacks. After that, I relied pretty heavily on my other weapons to knock him out of the sky or at least stun him long enough for me to figure out how to capture him. I knew of one way, I just wasn't sure HOW to do it...

Sadly, I never did figure out how to use that damn thermos Vlad gave me when I first became the Red Huntress. According to the instructions I found at the bottom of the package he sent me, that thermos was supposed to be able to trap ghosts inside. But since I never found out how to activate the stupid thing that's why whenever I fought a ghost I had to rely on Danny's parents capturing them for me instead or one of his friends who seemed to know how it worked since they had thermos's of their own, which I could only assume they borrowed them from Danny's parents since they wanted to help out too. I tried mimicking how they used it but nothing happened so I gave up and had to rely on anti-ghost energy nets or other restraints to keep them from getting away. So that meant the one Vlad gave me was probably his own version of it. So really, all I could hope to do was beat the snot out of any ghosts I faced and make sure they knew I wasn't playing around and to tell their friends not to show their sorry faces around here...

Most of the weaker ghosts seemed to get the message and hightailed it out of town but the stronger ones, such as Phantom's enemies, only left when they felt like it or because they said that fighting me was _'boring.'_ So that's what this was to them? Some kind of game?! Well I was DONE letting them keep playing these cruel games where they toyed with people's lives! And Phantom was going to be the first to pay for what he'd done to me, this town, and Danny's family!

* * *

As the fight dragged on, Phantom's sudden and persistent silence really started to get the better of me and put me even more on edge. I expected him to at least sling a few insults at me when he saw me fail spectacularly, or at least Phantom would have long since stated his intentions here since he liked to hear himself talk. But every time our fight brought us in close quarters his green eyes remained cold and blank and there was absolutely no emotion at all glowing inside of them. No anger, no hesitation...

No mercy.

 _I don't get it! You always gloat, make your snarky remarks, or insult your opponent when you fight. So why are you being so quiet now of all times? Is this fight just that personal for you to the point that you feel like words are a waste of time here? A waste on me?_ No matter how many times I mulled over what the deal with him was I just couldn't figure out what Phantom's problem was, or why he was acting so creepy, even for a ghost!

It didn't help that when I got close enough to look into his eyes, they had this unnaturally hollow look, almost like he wasn't even there and I was fighting an empty husk with no heart. That same deathly precision and focus was reflected in how he fought too. There was no emotion at all, save for some small glint of satisfaction or and there or a hint of some other emotion I couldn't describe...

There was no fear. No anger. There was nothing human in how he fought me. The way Phantom fought me really felt like he was a man possessed with only one thing on his mind...

Defeating me.

Eventually, fight reached a level of intensity where I could tell he was no longer holding anything back. I knew this was the case because his punches didn't rattle me as much when this fight started like they did now. It forced me to go on the defensive more often then I care to admit, and whenever I COULD strike back at him I was the total opposite. I fought hard while driven by anger, fear, and an intense need to survive this fight and hold my own against him for as long as I could...

It was all I could do right now just to keep moving seeing as most of my weapons were broken, starved for ammo, or incapable of venting heat efficiently enough to keep running. So instead I decided to rely more heavily my hoverboard since most of the weapons on it still worked at least, and with that in mind I enticed Phantom to chase me again by making it look like I had given up and was running for it. It paid off too since he was hot on my trail and gaining quickly.

Green luminescent bolts of ecto-energy flew past my head and grazed my hoverboard which was starting to wobble a bit while threatening to shake me off, but I kept it steady. _Ok, that's close enough I think. Let's do this!_ I thought as I sharply flew up and tucked myself into a tight cartwheel that forced him under my hoverboard in a sudden attempt to dodge me. I pressed a button on my belt that exposed the advanced electrical circuitry in the board, and it found its grounding in Phantom's body and he cried out in pain. At least that meant SOMETHING finally managed to hurt him as I brought the board down on him so the wings would trap him in the current with nowhere to go but down; that is IF he was suddenly managed to resist long enough to break free again. This was Phantom we were talking about though, and he was fighting it to the best of his ability, but since this was one of my most powerful attacks I was convinced he was mine now as far as I was-

 _Wait, no, this can't be right!_ Confidence turned to shock and horror as my hoverboard was suddenly being encased in a thick layer of ice spreading from both of his hands. _What the-!? Since WHEN can he do that?!_

It was happening too fast to stop by increasing the power so the heat from the electricity could melt the ice so I did the only thing that made sense. I jumped. Thankfully we were low enough to the ground that my fall wouldn't hurt too much on account of my suit, a risk I only took because I planned this out before I made such a risky maneuver in the first place. What I didn't account for were the trees. And the branches. And the hard impact at the end. But at least I was still alive!

 _Focus on the small victories, Val. You're alive! That's something at least. Where is my hoverboard though?_ _I need to get out of here and think of a better way to free Danny from this psycho! Fighting this way is getting me nowhere fast and I'm about at my limit._ Now, after that I WOULD have activated it's tracking device so it'd hone in on my location as usual but sadly the homing device in my arm was busted meaning I had to look for it the normal way with my own two eyes...

That's when out of the corner of my eye I saw what I could only assume was my frozen hoverboard abruptly smash into a nearby building, splinter into pieces, and explode thanks to the power supply becoming exposed, unstable, and kind of explosive...Great. The building didn't survive either in case you were wondering. Just charred ash and wreckage. If I survive this, I need to talk to Vlad about what he puts in my equipment to run it. THAT is a serious occupational hazard and that could have been me blown up all over the place!

As soon as I looked up from that, I saw nothing but a wall of smoke billowing from the building until a head of white hair broke through the blackness and I saw Phantom walking slowly towards me again, both of his hands glowing green, and then I saw that those mysterious cracks were pulsing on his face again as his gaze focused on nothing but me.

This was getting deadly serious now. I was rapidly running out of options. But this grudge match between us was going to have to end soon, one way or another...

Once he was close enough to me, Phantom shot an ecto-energy blast directly at me but I dodged to the side just in time and the tree directly behind me snapped in half and fell with a thunderous thud. I wracked my brain trying to think of what weapons I had left that were part of my suit but even after months of fighting in this new suit I still haven't quite figured out all the bells and whistles, and since Vlad wasn't here to ask about if he really was the one who gave me the upgrade I had to try to hazard a guess how many weapons were left, if any, that I could still use.

That's when I remembered I had some sort of anti-ghost energy fused into my gloves so I maybe could still fight him off hand to hand for awhile. I guess I forgot about them since I thought they were only a feature I had in my old suit. And so with a loud battle cry once my gloves started glowing with red energy which sadly was so hot it hurt my hands, I rushed at Phantom with my fist raised and poised to fight back with everything I had left in me to defend myself and hopefully get him to back off so I could live to fight another day.

Despite what an emotionless zombie he's been this whole time, much to my relief I could see that Phantom was breathing heavily which I thought was kinda weird since ghosts don't breathe, at least I don't think they do unless it was a reflex. Then again I had to remind myself that Phantom was possessing a human host so that was probably taking its toll on him too if they felt the same pain and exhaustion. I hated having to do this but he gave me no choice! While we were fighting fisticuffs again though I noticed how out of the blue his movements were becoming more agitated and violent and finally...while his forearms were blocking one of my attacks and burning his skin I saw the first spark of emotion in his eyes since this all began...

Was that anger in his eyes, or fear though...? I couldn't tell.

It was then, just when I took another particularly hard hit from him, that I also started to realize Phantom wasn't toying with me anymore. He was trying to finish this battle once and for all. This wasn't about settling the score between us anymore, and honestly, maybe it never was. I mean, if it was he would have said SOMETHING by now so he could rub it in my face. But Phantom never said a word, not one, even when it became clear I was outclassed and outmatched.

When the fight too a turn for the worse I could feel my heart start racing again as a true sense of panic began to set in. I was exhausted and probably completely out of weapons but Phantom just wouldn't let up! Didn't he see that he'd already won?! Wasn't crushing me and exhausting my supply of weapons enough to satisfy his ego!? Or was he-

All of the color drained from my face when it sunk in that Phantom...he was straight up trying to kill me! But that-that couldn't be right! Sure he was a jerk-wad, a liar, and a self-proclaimed hero, but he wasn't a murderer! Even I had to admit that much was true about him. So what was he after? What was Phantom hoping to gain from tricking me and attacking so mercilessly like this?

While I was too busy getting over the shock and wrapping my mind around this crazy revelation, Phantom punched me right in the stomach and sent me flying across the street. I rolled a few times before grinding to a halt when my helmet crashed into a large boulder, or more likely a large chunk of concrete off of a fallen building, and it broke.

I laid there for a solid minute or so seeing stars as my vision swam in front of me and my ears kept ringing, but once I recovered enough, I reached up and hastily removed what was left of it from my head since the dent from the impact was making my head throb even more painfully. I could only hope I didn't have a concussion because if I blacked out now, I was done for. And without my hoverboard, I had no means of escaping. There's no way I could outrun him on foot either which meant...

I was trapped.

But surely this had to be enough to satisfy him right? He won fair and square so if I could just appeal to this so-called _'good side'_ Danny's friends said Phantom stood for the kind heart had underneath it all then I could at least make it out of here alive and regroup with my dad and like I said earlier try to figure out another way to save Danny. I couldn't fail him again now, not when Danny was here in front of me probably just as scared as I was. Yes, that's right, I admit it, I was scared to death of Phantom right now. He was acting so robotic and ruthless and the silent treatment was so unlike him so there had to be something else going on, I just wasn't sure what.

I hated how much my voice was shaking, but I couldn't help it as I backed myself up against the rock as Phantom strode up to me, his right hand glowing as he took aim at my chest, and after meeting his gaze, I mustered what was left of my courage and pleaded, "Look Phantom, I know we've had our differences in the past but this isn't like you! Even I know you'd never do something like this if you were in your right mind. You don't try to hurt or KILL people like other ghosts do! Sure you make a mess of our lives and you don't give a damn about how your actions effect anyone else, but you're not that heartless. What are you even trying to prove here huh? What's the point of all this?! What HAPPENED to you Phantom? This can't be about getting revenge against the Fenton's because otherwise you would have gone after Danny's parents, not me, because I'm not the one that shot you point blank! And why did you take Danny away? What did he ever do to you!? Did you abduct him to get back at his parents for hurting you that badly when all you did was wander into their house? Were you just lonely and wanted someone to share your miserable existence with? Or, did you show up at my school looking like Danny just to hurt me since he means so much to me? TELL ME WHY PHANTOM!"

I noticed him flinch slightly as soon as I called his name at the end, and this gave me hope that my maybe words were reaching him, or maybe the real Danny that was trapped inside was waking up and resisting again so I continued shakily, "Do you really hate me so much that you want to kill me too? I'll admit that I used to want to destroy you for a long time, but after you saved me from Skulker and freed the town from that ghost king guy and his army I gave up on the idea as long as you weren't hurting anyone else. In the end I would have been fine with just getting you out of my hair and out of my town! Now that you've beaten me won't you please let Danny go? He has nothing to do with any of this! I know his parents are the ones who hurt you, but it's your own damn fault for showing up on their doorstep knowing they hate ghosts as much as I do! Really if you really even half the hero everyone says you are then you'd know how wrong this is and you'd see how much what you're doing is hurting him. And you know darn well that Danny himself never did anything to you! Please!" Tears started to obscure my vision and without warning I lost all of my composure because I was so exhausted and everything hurt and so begged him in a loud panicked voice, "Please give him back to me! Don't you get it?! You've won! You've beaten me! Isn't that enough for you?! I swear I'll never bother you or hunt you ever again if you'll promise to leave us alone! That's all I ever wanted! For you and your kind to leave me, this town, my friends, and my dad ALONE! And Danny is...he's very important to me! Sure I didn't used to think much of him before since his parents were a pair of ghost hunting weirdos before we found out you guys were real after all, but he's always been there for me when the chips were down and I wanted to be there for him too, which is why I've been trying so hard to keep this town safe. I wanted to make him proud and make sure he had a home to come back to once I found out what you did to him! So if there's anything even remotely good inside of you like everyone says you are then prove it to me! Let him go and STOP ATTACKING ME!"

My eyes widened when instead of backing down Phantom began gathering even more green energy into his hand to the point where it was almost glowing white hot instead of green and he stared down at me coldly. But something was different about him. His hands were shaking now and his expression almost looked pained as more of those freaky glowing purple cracks appeared on his face and pulsed even brighter and faster than before. After that his feet couldn't even support him anymore with how badly they started to shake so Phantom began floating at least an inch off of the ground instead, his sights still set on me. But it was almost as if Phantom was fighting against something inside of himself, or more likely it was Danny trying to reclaim his body. I seriously hoped that was the case too because try as I might I couldn't move anymore. I couldn't move because my leg got hit pretty bad earlier and one of his attacks left a horrible burn mark on my skin where it tore through my battle suit when his energy hit me directly, and the pain was so intense I could feel the blood pumping through my entire leg.

This was it, if I didn't escape from Phantom now I was as good as dead and so was Danny. With that in mind, since it was the only weapon I had left that was still working, while he was distracted I quickly activated the small ray gun on my wrist I aimed it at his stomach hoping beyond hope I'd finally be able to knock him out when out of nowhere the energy abruptly died in his hand and Phantom started screaming, tears spilling over and streaming down his cheeks as he gripped his head with both hands and continued to howl in agony. This was my chance to get away! Danny was fighting back! But then I panicked again as I thought, _What if Phantom runs off with him again though? Would I be lucky enough to track them down a second time? Or was this my only chance to save Danny...?_

The thought of losing Danny forever really scared me, but so did the very real possibility of losing my life. That's why when I looked up at Phantom and saw him writhing in agony and he suddenly looked down at me and our eyes locked. But I was shocked to see that his eyes weren't empty anymore. They were filled with the same heartwrenching fear and uncertainty I was feeling right now, and it reflected brightly and clearly in those glowing green eyes of his so he wasn't faking it this time. And the raw emotional termoil I saw in them became even stronger when suddenly his pupils flashed red not long after. _Wait, red? Why the hell are his eyes turning-?!_

"Honestly Danny, must I do everything myself?" a deep voice mused from somewhere above us as they called down to him.

"W-who's there? Show yourself!" I shouted, not sure what was going on but clearly there something else was at work here and now Phantom's strange behavior was starting to make sense. There was someone else pulling the strings from the shadows, but who...? And why Phantom?

"Tsk tsk, Valerie, you disappoint me. Even with a band new suit and a bit more battle experience under your belt, you're STILL still no match for me. Such a pity. I was hoping you'd last longer than that." After that, a new ghost appeared above us and my eyes widened in shock.

He looked just like Phantom! They even had the same stupid emblem on their suit shaped like a D. Well, except for the fact that he was older and his skin was a deathly shade of teal blue and a pair of glowing red eyes looked down on us with contempt as he clenched his fist, making it glow purple, and then Phantom cried out one last time then stopped struggling as his arms fell limp and his expression became completely blank again.

"You're controlling him?! Who are you? And how do you know my name?" I demanded, shifting my arm a little so it was further behind me and this new ghost couldn't see that I was armed with at least one more weapon at my disposal or that I was typing a message to my dad on my busted control panel, praying it'd go through. "I don't know who you are, but you come into MY town and make a mess? Buster, you are about to have a bad day, courtesy of Amity Park's sole protector!"

I knew it was probably a really stupid idea to goad this new ghost on like that when I didn't know how powerful he was and I was in no shape to fight anymore, but if I could just distract him long enough to send a distress call to my dad, which he made me promise to send if and when something ever became too much for me to handle after finally getting him to agree to let me keep ghost hunting, then there was still a chance to get out of this alive.

If I was going to help Danny escape Phantom and this...other Phantom, I had to stay alive long enough to do it and right now I was on my last legs. I could only hope dad would make it here in time with Mr. and Mrs. Fenton since they were probably out there right now searching for the ghost causing all of this. And I had a bad feeling it was the guy with white flames for hair floating above us right now since he looked like someone who could cause a lot of damage, and enjoyed it.

Laughing at my little speech, he gestured over at Phantom who was floating in front of me in a daze and said, "Oh really, then who's that in front of you? I thought HE was this town's coveted protector and you were just filling in for him as a half-baked substitute? Well, now that the infamous Danny Phantom is back, I'd say you've outlived your usefulness little girl. You put on an impressive show though, I'll give you that. I greatly enjoyed watching you two fight. You're much more ruthless in this new timeline then the Valerie I know. It's a shame you won't live long enough to mature into the skilled ghost huntress who has been nothing but a thorn in my side for over ten years. It would have been fun fighting you with the new gadgets and this new suit you've acquired in this timeline really suits you, no pun intended. Black is very slimming on you Valerie. Consider yourself lucky though you don't have to bear witness to what I have planned for the rest of the world and the remaining nuisances, including your father. He got off pretty easy last time I saw him. Thanks to your brave efforts he only lost an eye and a arm, but unlike most of my enemies at least he kept his life. He's lucky I was feeling charitable and left enough of him for you to protect after I foolishly decided to spare you the same suffering I went through of being left all alone in the world. I considered it a small mercy at the time. Especially given our past together, so perhaps looking back on it now maybe some small part of me remembered my old feelings for you. But not this time. This time-" a chill ran up my spine when he smiled wickedly at me and I saw a pair of fangs glinting dangerously in the firelight after he abruptly blew up the building behind us just to scare me and told me in menacing and low tone, "-you die with the rest of them."

* * *

Dan's POV

The look of absolute horror on her face was priceless, oh how I've missed seeing Valerie make that face before she finally started to toughen up and began fighting me seriously in the other timeline. The mixture of pure hatred, uncertainty, and fear in her eyes made Valerie look even more beautiful then I remember and I would be sure to treasure this memory of her last moments for as long as possible until my new future was secured and everything else fell into place. It was fun watching Danny struggle to regain control of his mind and his body the more I pressed him to finish the job and kill her already.

That was the whole point.

I wanted him to remember this, how helpless he is, so that the next logical step for Danny to take after this would be to become more powerful so that he would never risk losing anything dear to him again. And then, like me, he'd learn to simply enjoy the power at his disposal for what it is and revel in making all of his enemies suffer just as much as we were going to make Valerie suffer before we ended her pathetic and disappointingly fragile life.

A shame her father wasn't here to see this. I wanted him to watch and hear his desperate howl as he watched helplessly as the light left his daughter's eyes once Danny killed her off before ending his life as well. Still, at least Danny's parents were on their way here which was enough for now so all the pieces were falling in place. Well, most of them at any rate. I still had to use Danny's human half again to get into the school to capture his sister and friends since I couldn't go past the shield being a full ghost, but that could wait.

If you're wondering how his parents knew I was here, I decided to go show myself to them just long enough so they'd follow my energy trail while the two lovebirds enjoyed their epic battle to the death. After all, this wasn't going to work if Danny didn't get to SEE them die with his own two eyes or do the deed himself. That's why I decided to set the stage for them too, and as an added bonus, after they saw Danny Phantom kill an innocent girl right in front of them would ensure that they also went all out while attacking him. So even if Danny did manage to regain control of himself, the damage would be done and they'd forget all about saving their son and would decide to destroy the dangerous ghost in front of them instead. Honestly, it wouldn't be that hard to trick them into fighting too hard in the heat of the moment, especially once their blind hatred for our ghost persona returned in full force.

First of all, however, I needed to take out the only people who actually posed a threat to my plans, namely Valerie and Danny's parents. Although the latter honestly didn't stand much of a chance so disposing of them would be all too easy. I still had plans for Vlad so he too would get to keep his human half at least a little while longer. That said though, since there was still a little time left before they arrived I thought why not have a little fun with Valerie myself before she dies screaming? And what better way to torment the poor girl then tell her exactly what she wanted to hear about who the two of us really are...? Might as well, seeing as she won't survive long enough to see who Danny becomes...

Me.


	70. Behold The Great And Terrible Truth

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (5/16/2019):** Sorry in advance this chapter is so dialogue heavy and I tried to space it out and only keep the really important stuff, but even when narrowing it down there's a lot I feel needs to be said. And besides, Dan will only get ONE chance to say any of this because if his plans succeed _(which we know they won't but meh)_ , then all of the memories of _'his'_ timeline will be erased and he'll go back to being the current Danny effected by everything that's happened and his past self would only know as much as his old future self told him. Basically, this is the _'revelation'_ chapter before the grand finale. Or that was the plan anyway. There are still a few more things to take care of so I'll save the rest for the next chapter.

* * *

Chapter 69: Behold The Great And Terrible Truth

(Chapter inspired by Good For You by Dear Evan Hansen)

* * *

 _"The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is."_ **~ Winston Churchill**

* * *

Dan's POV

Floating a bit closer to Valerie, I smiled, reveling in the fact that she was now helpless and broken before me. But the fight hadn't left her quite yet, I could see it in her eyes as she glared at me and snapped, "We're not going to lose to some punk ghost like you! Even if I can't stop you, the Fenton's will! They won't let a monster like you get away with destroying our town. Not on your afterlife."

A low chuckle vibrated in my chest as I told her with some amusement, "Monsters aren't born, they're made. Wouldn't you agree, Valerie? Admit it, you always hated me on principle, but I wasn't the evil ghost you painted me as. Not until I abandoned my humanity and finally decided I'd had enough of the way you and everyone else in Amity Park treated me even when I still cared what became of any of you. Basically, you WANTED a monster, and since there was no point convincing you otherwise anymore I happily obliged. At least keeping you around once everyone else in my life was out of the picture it made things in my timeline less boring, but I'm not taking any risks this time of you stopping me from achieving my goal and getting in my way like before. Let's face it, you only became a ghost hunter out of pure spite and blind hatred of me and _'my kind,'_ and that means it's only personal motivation that pushes you to keep on fighting. It's not that you actually want to protect anyone. The thought never even crossed your mind. At least not until your father's life was put at risk too when Pariah Dark's forces invaded and brought this entire town into the Ghost Zone which put EVERYONE'S lives at risk. And later, once your town's beloved and unappreciated hero Danny Phantom was forced to flee from his home when he was gravely wounded by the very loved ones he swore to protect, that led to you begrudgingly taking on his task of keeping all of these ghosts at bay yourself since there was no one else capable enough. Especially not the Fenton's. As I recall, when you were first starting out as a huntress you nearly killed my old friend Tucker Foley once at the Nasty Burger when the sign almost crushed him. It likely would have if I hadn't been there, not that you noticed how much damage YOU were causing or cared where you were haphazardly aiming your weapons since there only had one thing on your mind. Revenge."

Lifting my head to stare at the dark plumes of smoke darkening the sky I laughed, "And isn't it intoxicating? The power, the thrill, nothing else compares! Admit it, just now you were ENJOYING causing my younger self pain weren't you? I could feel the ferocity behind each blow through our connection which is allowing me to partially overshadow him. You were hitting Danny with everything you got, and before long it no longer mattered if you were hurting his human half too. After all, it was for his own good right? Is that how you justify inflicting so much pain on someone you love...? I'd love to see what you would do to an enemy you actually hate as much as you say you hate us."

Narrowing her eyes at me, with a hint of fear and anger Valerie demanded, "What are you talking about? Are you trying to tell me that you and Phantom are one and the same? That you're from the future or something? I guess that would explain how you know so much about me. But don't try to trick me with your stupid mind games ghost! Humans can't be part ghost, it's impossible! You can't be dead and alive at the same time like some kind of zombie! Besides, I'm not stupid, I would know if Danny-"

"-if Danny Fenton was a ghost?" I interrupted coldly, my red eyes locked onto hers as I looked back down and sneered. "How could you possibly have known that? His own parents didn't even know that their son was transformed into a half-ghost hybrid because their most dangerous invention changed him forever, the Fenton ghost portal. And lets not forget that poor Danny was living under the roof of PROFESSIONAL ghost hunters, desperately trying to hide this secret from them knowing how they felt about ghosts in general and what they would do to him if they found out what he was. At least Danny was actually part of a family of ghost hunters that goes back for generations though, not some wanna-be hack like you! Therefore whether Danny was taught this directly or not he knew the difference between what was real and what was nothing but fiction where ghosts are concerned, especially once half of him became one. So tell me, were you even AWARE that ghosts existed before that fateful day in Axion Labs? Did you believe in such occult nonsense before two of them appeared before your very eyes?"

I knew Valerie understood exactly what I meant, that she knew the truth deep down, but I wanted her to hear it straight from me before she died and for it to burn like a brand as my words seeped into the marrow of her bones until she could no longer deny it. And Valerie didn't know it yet, but this would be the last thing she ever heard. With that in mind, I explained as-a-matter-of-factually, "Back then, hardly anyone in this town knew about the threat they posed yet until they started making a public nuisance of themselves. Once the ghost activity all over Amity Park increased it became impossible to hide from everyone anymore or for people like you to ignore and dismiss as something else entirely. Sadly despite my younger self's best efforts to protect this pathetic excuse of a town and you from them at every turn, he was only able to shield you from their existence for so long. Surely you remember seeing Danny Phantom fighting ghosts rather frequently, especially after becoming a hunter yourself. Now, why would he do that? Why would Danny Phantom fight his own kind on a daily basis unless it was to protect people just like he told you was his only intention all along? If it really was all just for sport and for his own amusement, which it is for me at least since you lowly humans don't deserve my protection, why would Danny continue to fight so hard to keep this town safe if he had no reason to? Or call himself a hero if his goal was to harm people and cause trouble? What would be the point of putting up with everyone's accusations when he could have just as easily left this town to its fate?"

She bit her lip but didn't dare respond as I glared at her and said everything my younger self never dared put into words. Yet Danny has always felt this way all the same; we both did when we were still the same person before I chose to strip what was left of that weak human boy behind and donned a new name and personal creed. That from then on, the rest of them could burn and I would be the one to strike the match...

"If he really didn't care who he hurt in the process, then why would Danny Phantom go to such lengths to ensure no one ever got caught in the crossfire during those ghost fights? Why didn't he leave you for dead in the Ghost Zone with no way to return home once you were freed from Skulker's handcuffs? He easily could have abandoned you there, alone and helpless, but he saved your life instead. Face it, Valerie, you've always known the truth about what Danny Phantom believed in and why he kept fighting to protect all of you from harm. But you refused to see it and instead blinded yourself with that stubborn pride of yours and embraced your selfish desires to destroy him and everything he stood for when it should have been obvious that he was a force for good. Meaning that you're the real villain here, Valerie. Only villains refused to see or accept change. Don't bother trying to deny it. In the end, you enjoy using the power to hurt him and make you feel better about yourself. It KILLS you knowing how worthless and feeble you are without that suit. Underneath it all, you're just a scared little girl who has never faced a real life or death situation because Danny willingly bled himself dry to keep everyone safe. And in return, the only thanks he ever got from you, his friends, or his family was either an anti-ghost energy blast to the back or a lack of trust when he gave up so much for you all."

My glare hardening thinking about all the trouble she caused me back then by refusing to see reason when I still gave a damn about humans, I continued harshly, "Speaking of villains, didn't you find it odd at all that you, some random teenager from a small town managed to catch such a sudden interest from none other than the one and only Vlad Masters? A man who is reputably a very busy and successful businessman from Wisconsin who most people spend their entire lives aiming to please, hoping to be noticed by him even for a moment? And yet without any previous explanation at all he was willing to give you a specialized suit designed specifically to fight ghosts only after you just learned they were real? And this very same man also bought out the company your father worked for, made it his own, and reinstated Damon's job almost immediately without so much as batting an eye. What excellent timing! Some might even say, fortuitous. Too many people put stock in conveniences to write off what they can't explain. Only an ignorant fool wouldn't stop to question his motives long enough to realize that they were being looked at under a microscope and manipulated. And why exactly does Vlad know so much about ghosts anyway, Valerie? Especially when the world's supposed leading _'experts'_ had only seen a ghost twice in their lives before sightings around Amity became alarmingly commonplace? No. Vlad Masters isn't who you think he is."

Tapping my chin, I mused thoughtfully, "On a related note, what about Phantom? After Cujo caused so much damage and ruined things for you and your father, you seemed all too willingly to think that ALL ghosts were out to get you. Phantom eventually became the exception to your self-imposed little notion once you bothered getting to know him. Because as much as you tried to deny it, whenever there was a fire, there he was, putting it out. When there was a ghost about to devour someone whole, once again Danny Phantom was there to stop them which is something even you can't ignore. You're too perceptive to not be able to easily connect the dots between what Danny said he wanted and what he was actually DOING, Valerie. The fact of the matter is you were willfully ignorant of what we contributed to this dirt-pile of a town. And if you were wrong here. Well. What else were you wrong about?"

I paused to let it sink in and let a sinister smile crawl across my face before I continued. "You're a poor excuse for a hero much less a ghost hunter. I'd go so far to just call you a bully, really. Back when I was Phantom, I could at least see that some ghosts were alright once I learned more about their kind. You, on the other hand, are too caught up in your own delusions to distinguish between your blind hatred and those who were ACTUALLY causing any harm. You were no different than his parents which is why it was so vital for us to keep what we were a secret from everyone. And this is why I could never have had a normal life. Most people are happy to vilify ghosts and think they are all the same, but this applies to the sort of people who are nothing but sheep that follow the crowd and only accept things at face value and despise what they cannot or refuse to understand. Most of the ghosts I only had to fight because ghosts respect power above all else and therefore it is in their nature to fight for dominance. And this led to many nights where I fought for my very survival since I still had half a human life left to lose and didn't understand why they saw me as their favorite target. Night after night I fought to get back to Fenton Works in time to study for a test or so that maybe I could wake up at a reasonable time for school if I captured enough ghosts that night so they weren't picking fights or harming people. But most of all I had to continue to pretend I was just an average teenager, a loser so no one knew I was capable of destroying everything and everyone who stood in my way even then. That is IF that had been my original intention."

Allowing a small hint of real bitterness seep into my voice, I told her honestly, "So those ghosts that only wanted to keep to themselves and enjoy what little joy our world had to offer? I deeply empathized with them and left them alone for the most part. We both yearned for something simple we could never have. I had a life I couldn't escape, with expectations to be a good student and a good son and someday inherit the family business of ghost hunting whether I wanted to or not! I thought I had no choice but to protect a town that didn't realize what it had but was damn sure happy to notice when it wasn't being protected constantly. It's why I grew to hate people like you. People who only lifted a finger when it was in their own best interest, when they reaped the biggest reward and would turn a blind eye to the plight of those in need. A plight that was easy to fix, if my -I mean Danny's- parents actually understood the portal they made and fixed it, you'd be surprised at how quickly the ghost problem would go away! Sadly, Jack is an idiot, and Maddie doesn't reel him in like she should. It's a wonder I was ever even remotely normal when living under the same roof of such horrible parents who cared more for their work than their own children. It's a wonder Jazz and my human self were even born..."

"Well...even if that dog wasn't to blame Phantom is still nothing but a troublemaker! If you really are the same ghost as Phantom is then this is proof that he is still capable of becoming evil! And don't you dare insult Mr. Masters! There's no way Vlad's package was all just a setup. He was trying to help me put a stop to you ghost freaks from getting your way! In fact, Vlad Masters told me himself all about how he saw my potential which is why he sent me all that stuff to begin with. So nice try but you can't fool me!" Valerie protested stubbornly, although I could see a hint of uncertainty behind her emerald eyes.

"You're wrong, Vlad only saw a pawn and used you to further his own ambitions from the very beginning. You and I are not so different in that regard. We are both victims of his scheming as well," I frowned more deeply, losing interest in Valerie's futile attempts to deny the truth I was shoving in her face. "Vlad Masters is not the man you think he is my dear, and neither is Danny Fenton. And the ones who are to blame for all of that are his parents...the so-called _'expert'_ ghost hunters who should have been doing what you are doing now, fighting ghosts and defending their home. Ah yes, Danny Fenton's insane and eccentric parents; while it's true they've studied ghosts and made some rather nasty weapons over the years based on actual research, the truth of the matter is that they are the reason I became half-ghost in the first place and why there are ghosts in this town! They are also responsible for Vlad Masters dedicating the last twenty years to seeking revenge against the former friend who changed his life forever and not only hurt him but hurt his own son the exact same way! You see Valerie, in secret Vlad also goes by another name you may or may not have heard of. That is why, really, you should be blaming THEM for being incompetent fools, pathetic excuses for friends to their old college mate, and terrible parents to their youngest son whose life has been at risk since the moment he was born due to their dangerous work who is now on the verge of becoming the reason the world as you know it turns into nothing but ashes for their mistake in creating us both!"

Before she could demand to know what I meant by those words, the timing couldn't have been more perfect once I heard the sound of screeching tires as the all-too-familiar Fenton Ghost Assault Vehicle as it rounded the corner and came into view, several ecto-guns and various other weapons trained on me. At least they hadn't noticed Danny yet, or if they had since he was too close to Valerie they couldn't risk shooting at close range without the risk of hurting her. Although I couldn't have them going after him when I still needed my younger self to witness their demise so I suppose it was as good a time as any to begin the next phase of my plan. Because as enjoyable as it was to torment Valerie and how much it would be to take my sweet time fighting them as well, I had more matters to attend to so they needed to be taken out quickly...

After all, our ' _other'_ guest of honor had yet to show himself, but I was sure he was around here somewhere.

Either way, I easily took care of the first projectile they unleashed since I was far enough away from it to extend my ghost power to the rocket and crush it, making it explode long before it could reach me. And soon after a volley of energy rays were aimed at me and I flew straight into the ground and phased through it, rendering their attacks useless while appearing as though I fled from their attack. After that, I positioned myself so I was directly underneath them and lifted the entire RV high into the air.

Admittedly though I completely forgot to take into account that they had a smaller ghost shield installed, which they activated as soon as I attacked them directly. I growled, bearing my teeth through the pain so I wouldn't reflexively throw them so hard that the twisted remains of what would have been left of the RV crushed every bone in their bodies as the anti-ghost energy shocked me and with a grunt I sent the RV crashing to the ground directly below me to avoid killing them too soon. We weren't high enough for the impact to cause any serious damage though. That blasted tin-can was build like a tank and even when Damon Gray was driving it instead until he lost his arm it served as a minor annoyance so the first chance I got I reduced it to a smoldering pile of molten metal. Either way, I was sure it could withstand the blow I'd dealt them and they'd easily survive being thrown from this height. After all, very soon few bumps and scratches would be the least of their worries...

This wouldn't be any fun if they died too soon either before I revealed the truth to them as well and proved to Danny once and for all that their so-called _'love'_ was nothing compared to raw power at our command and from the beginning it was an illusion, nothing but a lie, and they were powerless to stop me even if they did join forces and actually put a plan together in a futile attempt to beat me. I was certain that none of them would accept him though even once they did learn the truth, not if Valerie's response was anything to judge by. He needed to learn the hard way that they were unworthy of the effort it took to fight for and protect such hypocrites who were only here now because I was destroying EVERYTHING in my path and not some isolated section of town where god forbid anyone who might need their help could be!

Even when I DID still want to protect them, did my utmost best to prove my worth, my presence in their lives as both human and ghost and everything I did for their sake was taken for granted. Nothing was ever good enough in their eyes. And anything not directly in front of them didn't exist, be it a dangerous ghost or their son. But soon that would no longer be an issue because once they were dead and Danny was freed from under their shadow he would be forced to see how powerless he is as he is now. Maybe then he'd finally start fighting back with a little more motivation hoping to win back control of his mind and body a bit more fiercely...

Only then would Danny get the chance to prove his true strength and eventually he would give in to his hatred of me and let that anger fuel his actions. He could hate me all he wanted though since this was all for the sake of ensuring our future would be more glorious than ever before and prove that once and for all that the only way to achieve anything is by taking it by force. We didn't need anyone else. And if things went according to plan then all of this would someday become a distant memory and our power would be unmatched by any human OR ghost!

As expected, thanks to the spherical shape of the anti-ghost shield around it it made the RV do a complete barrel roll before finally grinding to a halt, fully intact. I see, so they gave it an upgrade to protect against things besides ghosts? Interesting. But no matter, even that wouldn't save them from their fate. After all, I still had Danny in my grasp and his still-human half was fully intact for now so he could easily bypass the shield and short out the RV's weapons and controls if need be.

It's a shame Danny hasn't quite mastered the power of duplication yet, otherwise I would have made him use that power now to coax them out of hiding inside instead of facing me directly. He managed to do it once before I overshadowed his duplicate, but that was only a single duplicate. And ever since then Danny hasn't been training with that particular power I can only for his own safety, which I'll admit is pretty smart despite how inconvenient it was, and sadly he didn't plan to until they _'took care'_ of me since I had some sway over my younger self's ghost half.

Our connection was still a fairly weak back then so the fact that I was able to do that at all was mainly because his will and powers were too weak to resist me after Danny foolishly attempted suicide rather than risk becoming me or simply to escape the hell he found himself in. Either way, for now I wanted Danny to keep a close eye on Valerie since she was the only real threat here and needed to be disposed of first, I could take out the rest of these vermin myself...

And I would enjoy every minute of it.

* * *

I crossed my arms and tapped my finger impatiently waiting for them to untangle themselves from the inside of the RV. Jack was, surprisingly, the first one to step out and saw that there was a little bit of blood around his eye so the airbag must not have deployed in time meaning his large girth was probably the only thing that softened the impact or he braced himself with both arms. I liked the look in his eyes though because at least Jack was taking this seriously for once.

"Don't move ghost scum!" Jack yelled, pausing only briefly to wipe the blood out of his eye with the back of his left hand, his eyes darting back to the RV as he waited for his wife to recover as well and help fight.

I complied with his demands if only because I wanted all the players in place before I went through with the first killing. However, I could already feel echos of Danny's panic rising when his glazed eyes drifted towards the source of the familiar voice and despite the relief he wanted to feel, all Danny found was fear and anguish in his heart upon seeing him for the first time in four months. Fear for his father's life, and the fear Danny tried to forget of the absolute hatred and disgust in Jack's eyes as he glared at me the same way he glared at him when he pointed his ecto-gun unknowingly at his own child. As for the gun he was currently aiming at me, I could only assume was an old one since the one Jack shot Danny Vlad destroyed soon after this all began but I would have to make sure to disarm him as soon as possible on the off chance it had similar anti-ghost properties.

Worried when his wife didn't appear as soon as he assumed she would, Jack called loudly, "Mads, are you ok? I could use a little help here, he looks like a big one!"

Soon after, with a grunt, Maddie shot the door clean off its hinges and sticking the landing like an Olympic gymnast after leaping into the air and settling to a stop beside him, she cocked her large anti-ghost shotgun or whatever it was and frowned, "Sorry sweetie, the door was jammed and we couldn't get out."

I raised an eyebrow. _We...? Now, who else would they be stupid enough to bring with them to hunt ghosts? Surely not Jazz._ I didn't have to wait long to find out and my eyes widened briefly before my insidious smile brightened. Oh, this was too perfect, of all the people who could have been in the back of the RV, it had to be _'him.'_

"DAD!" Valerie shouted with a mixture of relief and concern as he clumsily pulled himself out of the back of the RV to climb out through the front door Maddie shot off carrying a weapon of his own.

"Valerie! Are you ok!?" Damon called back, searching the area for his daughter's voice until he finally saw her on the ground with Danny floating in front of her. The moment he saw Danny though, his expression hardened and Damon shouted, "Get away from my daughter right now!"

Danny cringed but despite his best efforts to move aside, I wouldn't let him. I still needed him after all. So instead I decided to introduce myself and enlighten them as to the situation they were now in. "I'm afraid Danny can't come to the phone right now, he's a bit busy doing my bidding you see."

After that, all eyes moved towards me and Maddie glared at me harshly and yet was also the first to notice I had the same insignia on my chest and asked with a forced calm, "Who are you? Are you in league with Phantom?"

I chuckled, "You could say that..."

I was surprised that immediately after, instead of fishing for more information Maddie unleashed a shrill battle cry, charging her weapon to max, then ordered, "Shut up ghost, I honestly don't care who you are! GIVE ME BACK MY SON RIGHT NOW OR GOD HELP ME I WILL ERADICATE EVERY MOLECULE IN YOUR SPECTRAL BODY!"

Shocked by his wife's outburst Jack began unsurely, "Uh Maddie? It might not be a good idea to-"

Rounding on him tearfully Maddie snapped, "No Jack, for once just...listen to me! It all makes sense now. I knew it as soon as we saw this ghost on the news. It was all a trap, Danny Phantom was SENT to kidnap our son by this monster and now he's here to get revenge. We have to stop him and get Danny back and disinfect him of that...that VIRUS! It's the only way to save our baby boy!"

Jack opened his mouth to say something else but I just laughed. I couldn't believe my ears! And here I thought Maddie was the smart one! Yet here she was, pulling THAT theory out of thin air with no proof to back it up. I'd already told Valerie the truth, so now it was their turn. Still, I suppose the only thing that could possibly compare to the power I possessed, was the ruthless ferocity of a mother defending her child. It was touching really, or would have been if she wasn't way off the mark about Danny being ' _infected.'_ Unlike these lowly humans, Danny was perfect exactly the way he was. Or at least would be once I removed the real virus; his humanity. Because this was all the more proof that it was nothing but a waste of time and a weakness that would cost them dearly...

And don't think I didn't notice Damon searching for a way through the rubble blocking his way to get to Valerie. While she couldn't move due to her injuries I didn't want to waste Danny's energy while he was still recovering from his battle with Valerie so while Jack and Maddie were distracted, I flew down to him and because his reflexes were too slow since he was no fighter I was able to tear the weapon from his hands and lifted him by the collar and threw him directly at Maddie in the opposite direction. Really, I'm not sure what Damon expected to happen going up against a ghost without any formal training but once again this was a mistake that would cost them all their lives!

This is why you never take your eyes off the enemy, even for a second but that's all it takes to retaliate. And since I used nothing but brute physical force none of their sensors went off and only Damon's shout alerted them to the oncoming blow. The two of them collided in a tangled mess of bodies and poor Maddie slammed hard against what was left of the building behind us and crumpled to the ground, senseless. Valerie's father hardly fared much better as I lifted him into the air with my telekinetic powers and curled my fingers as I shocked him from a distance with my ecto-energy and he howled in pain.

Losing all vestiges of her pride and stubbornness now, Valerie struggled against the pain while trying to get back onto her feet and cried out hysterically, "DAD! NO! NO STOP IT! YOU'RE KILLING HIM!"

Fumbling with his weapon Jack finally did something useful, or tried to anyway, and shot at me a few times with his ray gun but I simply waved my other hand and they bounced harmlessly off my shield. On his own, Jack was no threat so I couldn't be bothered with him right now. Damon on the other hand, now he could prove useful in making absolutely sure Valerie's spirit was broken. It was one thing for me to threaten her directly now that she was much braver than before and at least had some grasp of what was at stake here, but by threatening someone she loves, her only family, would show Valerie that she was completely and utterly superfluous and couldn't do a damn thing to stop me.

Valerie stood no chance against me, she never did. It was exactly as I said, the reason she could never hope to defeat me in this timeline was because Valerie has never tasted true fear or faced death, not the way I had when I was half human, nor has her father's life been put on the line and entirely into her hands...until now. So now it was time to see just how much Valerie was willing to sacrifice to defeat my younger self once and for all.

Taking a moment to formulate my brilliant plan, I turned to the only remaining hunter and sneered, "Well that's two down. What's your next move, Jack? Think you can take me on your own?"

Cradling his unconscious wife, looking helpless and lost like I was used to not to mention confused about how I knew their names, although Jack surprised me when he admitted in a hopelessly defeated tone, "Listen bub. Can I be honest? Maddie makes the plans, I just follow her. She's usually the one who tells me to be careful and not to rush into things, but I've never seen her like that." Shaking her again while looking genuinely scared he called, "Come on Mads, you gotta wake up! I-I don't know what to do. Please, I can't lose you too...not you too..." After that, he hugged her tightly and I heard her groan, a sign that Maddie was slowly starting to regain consciousness. And who knows, if I still held any compassion left for them this would have been a very touching moment. But alas, these two were dead to me and soon to be dead in a very literal sense.

Rolling my eyes at their disgusting display of _'affection,'_ I scoffed, "That is both predictable, and yet depressing at the same time. Not to mention very stupid on your part to openly admit that you're helpless on your own to your enemy. And here I thought I'd get to slap you around a little more and have a bit more fun with you two. Well no matter, I found something much more interesting to do."

Smiling, I landed on the ground and walked over to Damon who was still out like a light and picked him up by the throat then with my other hand much like when I summoned my ghost shield I used the same energy ropes as before to tie Jack and Maddie together so they couldn't cause any more mischief once Maddie got her act together and actually formulated some kind of plan to stop me. Not that it would work since even at their best, the only thing that stood between them and me was usually an anti-ghost shield. Without that, well, their little toys could only do so much damage against me.

With them out of the way, my attention turned back to Valerie who finally looked like the scared little girl I knew she was. Her body was shaking all over and hot tears rolling down her cheeks as it finally sank in that by bringing him into this, she was going to be the reason he died on her account. Ah yes, NOW Valerie finally understood what it meant to have something to lose and that ghost fighting wasn't a game. It was a life and death struggle and sometimes no matter how hard you fought, it was a losing battle with no reward. But my reward would be watching her suffer as much as they made me suffer by becoming yet another thing I had to struggle against; namely having the people in my life I worked myself to the bone to protect do nothing but drag me down and spit on my efforts to keep them happy and most importantly...alive.

"Say, Valerie, since you're so fond of making choices why don't we play a little game? I'll let you decide who gets to die first!" I laughed as her eyes widened in alarm but ignoring that I continued to explain through a rather convincing lie, "You see, I want you all to die as painfully as possible to increase the chances of you becoming the very thing you despise, ghosts so I can have fun with you for the rest of eternity, which honestly won't be a problem if THIS is really all you can throw at me. But we have a little more flexibility as far as the order through which you die. I intended to take you out first since that cheese-head was right about one thing, you're the only one here besides Danny with any real talent for this and potential to even remotely stand a chance against me if I let you live to reach adulthood like in my timeline. Ideally, it would have been nice if Sam, Tucker, and Jazz could have joined us for the festivities, but alas, Vlad's foresight to lend an anti-ghost shield to Casper High first of all was probably one of the only good albeit annoying things he's done for this town. After all, I can't turn human anymore like Danny-boy here to bypass the shield which is how I managed to lure you out here."

I nodded at Danny who was also grimacing so I could tell he was listening to each and every word. "It won't keep them safe for long though. And as a bonus, I'll make you a special offer you can't refuse. I'm not blind, I know you have at least one weapon left you're trying to hide from me. So tell you what, for old time's sake since it doesn't really matter whether your father lives or dies...I'll give you a choice between letting me kill him first or-" without elaborating further I manipulated Danny so that once again he was floating right in front of her and after turning human again I made him spread his arms, making himself an open target.

All I needed was Vlad and Danny's ghost half to exist, it didn't matter how my human half died, or so I led her to believe. And every true 'hero' should know the meaning of sacrifice for the greater good. If Danny and I were one and the same, killing him could save thousands, if not tens of thousands of lives. But if Val let him live, unable to kill the boy she professed to have strong feelings for, then her only remaining family would die then and there right before her eyes and there was nothing she could do to stop it. And refusing to kill either of them likely meant I would just kill her first to be done with and there would be no one else left who could stop me...

No one that is...but Vlad.

I thought I imagined his presence before since it was so faint, but now it was clear to me that Vlad was finally here in Amity Park, and rather close I might add despite his attempts to suppress his ghost signature from me. The poor fool didn't realize I was MADE of part of him as well and could therefore sense him much like I could sense Danny. This was excellent news because it meant I could finally put an end to all of this.

As much fun as it was to put into words how Danny and I once felt and call them out on being the reason I was such a monster, I was here for one reason and one reason only. To force their hand so that I could take what I needed from Danny and Vlad and begin my reign of terror anew so that everyone would know that the hero they shunned and abused would soon prove once and for all that he was all that stood between them and a most painful death at the hands of a ghost. Although this time, _I_ would be that ghost.

"The clock's ticking, Valerie," I smiled menacingly as I tightened the grip I had on her father's neck just to see what sort of face he'd make. "Every hero must learn how to make sacrifices sometime in their career, so consider this your first and final lesson since I've done more than my share of sacrificing for unworthy scum like you. I was willing to DIE to stop Pariah Dark, but are you willing to do the same? No matter what choice you make though, someone WILL die I assure you. It's only a matter of deciding who means the least to you and will have the honor of going first. Now it's time to show Danny once and for all how much he's REALLY worth to you. Or if like with everyone else in his life, your friendship and your love was yet another hollow promise with nothing to back it up when he became the one who needed to be saved. Especially once you learned the truth that he's the only reason ANY of you have survived this long. Danny's always been the one saving your lives and making sacrifices so the rest of you could go about your daily lives because he was willing to sacrifice his in every sense of the word. So again the question is...are you? If not, then there's only one person left who could make the choice for you since he's used to getting his hands dirty. And by that I mean your benefactor, Vlad Masters. Let's see if he really gives a damn about you after all Valerie or if you are, as I said, nothing but a pawn. Maybe if he manages to make it in time before I get bored of this game and kill you should you refuse to make a choice, you'll see exactly how disposable the lot of you are to him. Just as Danny Phantom was to this town, which made you foolishly think that any of you stood a chance of protecting it when you had NO idea of the sacrifices he made for ANY of you to the point where he abandoned not only his dreams, but any chance of becoming anything more but the son of two ghost hunters who would never see his value in their lives beyond that until they sent him running for the hills. Well, they DO say you never really appreciate someone until they're gone. I say we test that theory."


	71. The Ultimate Sacrifice

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (5/22/2019):** Man, this story just keeps getting longer and longer with how much is still left to do since I have to keep splitting these chapters up. I'm sure you're not complaining though. Still kinda sad the last chapter didn't get any reviews but it happens and there's still time before the grand finale where I hope many of you will share your thoughts with me! It's been a long journey, so thank you for all of your support up until now and I hope you'll join me once I begin the eventual sequel! For now though, please enjoy this next chapter!

* * *

Chapter 70: The Ultimate Sacrifice...

(Chapter inspired by This Is War by Thirty Seconds To Mars)

* * *

 _The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance._

 _ **~ Nathaniel Branden**_

* * *

Val's POV

I looked all around me, not for any particular reason, I just knew that I had to think of something, anything to get my dad out of here before it was too late! This monster obviously had a very nasty surprise in store for me, and I didn't wanna wait to see what it was. But more importantly, I had to stop him from hurting my dad anymore and I sure as hell wasn't going to kill Danny. But the problem is I can't seem to find an answer to the question plaguing me...

 _What do I do?_ _How can I stop this ghost from hurting two of the people I care about more than anything?_ I mused to myself quietly, trying to calm down and think of a way to stop this freak.

Then I looked at Danny, I looked straight in his clouded blue eyes and unlike before his expression looked pained as if he really was struggling to regain control and it was obvious he didn't want to do this either. The question was, which part of him was fighting? The human, or the ghost inside of him? _Killing Phantom is the same as killing Fenton. So he says._ I thought seriously, my heart hammering painfully in my chest as I slowly started to accept the fact that somehow...this ghost was telling the truth. _But if it is true then that means he's right about one thing, I've ALWAYS hated your ghost half. And if you're really this...mix of the two then I hate the fact that you always had it for as long as I've known you and never said anything. You never told me I was hurting you all this time Danny. But why? Why would you keep it a secret from me even after we started getting so close? Then again, if your own parents were hunting your ghost persona too then it makes sense. If I were in your shoes I think it'd scare me if my dad looked at me like that too whenever he saw the Red Huntress and tried to shoot me every time I showed up. Still...even if you are half-ghost, even if you ARE Phantom, I...I never hated you enough to actually kill you! And if you have always been the same person this whole time, I find myself wondering if he's right about my motivation for hunting ghosts. Maybe I was wrong. I mean, I'm not about to believe whatever a crazed time-traveling ghost says, but...what would YOU do, Phantom? What would a hero do...?_

"...Kill..." Fenton muttered weakly and my eyes flew open in shock. _Danny? No way did he just-_

"W-what?" I replied unsurely, wondering if it was just wishful thinking that he was finally saying something. Either way, I could feel my body tense up and my fist ball and tighten as I anticipated a fight, thinking Danny or Phantom or whoever the hell he was was losing what little control he had of himself.

"...me." He continued with some trouble, forcing the words out past his lips.

I couldn't believe it. Was Danny back in control? I looked into his eyes again and they weren't nearly as cloudy as they were before, but before I could say anything else he choked, "Y-you have to kill me...Val. It's the...only way to stop him now..."

I jerked involuntarily when that sinister chuckle vibrated in the air and in my bones once again as that evil ghost began to speak again and said with amusement, "So that's what it takes? I guess you don't really care if I hurt your parents since they deserve whats coming to them. On the other hand though, after one good long look into the eyes of your would-be girlfriend, you finally come to your senses, Danny? Or is it, that you saw the desperation in those lovely eyes and it awoke your heroic spirit? At least you'll get your wish...I wonder though, could she live with it? Knowing she took you from the world and everyone in it? That knowledge eats people alive and-"

Grimacing, Danny forced a sad smile and continued, "Ignore him, Valerie. Please. He's got a way of making you doubt yourself...believe me."

I made a weak, unconvincing attempt at a chuckle and muttered, "Little late for that, Fenton. But you can't be serious though about killing you?" I asked, hoping with all of my heart that I heard him wrong.

"I am," Danny replied, then he took a moment to find the words before he pressed on, looking at with a mixture of sadness and anguish as he confessed, "I've...always done what I though was best for everyone. Sweating and bleeding thanks to fighting ghosts as a hobby isn't exactly what I thought I'd be doing as a freshman in high school a year ago. But protecting everyone gave me a purpose after the accident with my parent's ghost portal made me half-ghost and my whole life changed forever. For a while, I thought that would be the only motivation I'd need to keep doing this, just like you, that I had to stop all these ghosts for ruining lives and putting them in danger. I thought it was an easy choice to make, to fight ghosts just like my parents. After all, everyone I know is here, and this is my home. But Val...I need to be honest though, Dan's right about one thing, it's only gotten harder for me to handle all of this on my own. Every bad guy I've faced has only gotten stronger and I was basically wearing myself down to nothing trying to keep up with them and trying to go on with my human life too as the son of two ghost hunters, a student, and a friend. But no matter how hard I tried, everyone seemed to take everything I did for them for granted as a person and as Phantom even though they saw what Pariah Dark could do and how much damage ghosts can cause if I let them go around town unchecked. Many people hated me from the start once I couldn't hide the ghost attacks anymore simply for being something I never had any say in. I was half-ghost now, and there's no cure for it Val, it's half of who I am and burned into my DNA. But even though the way I was being treated hurt, I told myself it didn't matter as long as I was doing the right thing no matter what anyone did or said to me whether they were ghost...or human. Being an actual hero is a thankless job, Val. I'm sure you've figured that out by now since you had to keep doing it when I couldn't anymore when my...when my parents shot me..."

He took a slow shuttering breath and continued quietly, almost fearfully, "Still I...I really thought I could protect everyone from my evil future self by staying away from Amity Park and that maybe somehow things could go back to normal, but they can't. I was only fooling myself. I realize now that I've been avoiding the only real solution there is and hiding from the truth. The truth that I've always been afraid that everyone would reject me if they knew the truth. And now it's too late. I wasted my second chance, but there's still hope for you and my parents at least."

Transforming into Phantom again through sheer willpower then reaching down to lift my arm so I was aiming the last working weapon I had straight at his heart, his green eyes bore into mine and Danny told me point blank even as more tears rolled down his cheeks, "Valerie, listen to me. We've clashed a couple of times in the past, but I never thought of you as an enemy. I never wanted to hurt you, so before I do, before he makes me destroy everything I care about...you have to get rid of me. Everyone in Amity Park is counting on you to be the hero from now on. It won't be easy, but you can do it. I trust you, Val. You'll do the right thing. And I'd like to think if things went differently we would have been on the same side. We have similar goals after all...you just don't realize it. And sadly it won't matter soon. Dan isn't joking around, he will kill your dad no matter what we do just to make you suffer. So if sacrificing myself means he gets to live, then I'm ok with that. It means I got to die a hero and never have to see myself become this monster. I just wish...I could have seen a future where I didn't screw everything up for the people who matter most to me. Like you...and I'd rather be giving my life to help someone one last time then let Dan win because I messed up again."

 _I can't believe how defeated he sounds. Is this...really the Danny I know? If he really is Phantom too then is Danny really someone who would give up rather than fight and sacrifice himself?_ I'm not going to lie, I was tempted by his offer because this is my dad after all and if I didn't do something fast this ghost was going to kill him, but...killing Danny to do that was just-!

Strengthening what was left of my resolve I scowled and shook my head, "I can't accept that, Fenton. What about your parents? Are you really ok with them seeing you dead? You can't be! Look, you've almost broken free of his control! So stop this heroic sacrifice nonsense so we can beat him together and figure this all out after. What do you say?"

His green eyes peered at me, and I felt myself shift under his hard gaze that reminded me of the other ghost only his weren't filled with malice, they were filled with grim determination. I could tell he already made up his mind and even though Danny clearly didn't want to sacrifice himself, he smiled through the pain and said, "Sorry Val, but this isn't a fight we could win even if we did team up like that time against the Ghost King. The truth is...you really did a number on me and I can't hold out much longer. But in the end this is my choice, it has always been my choice. I wish it didn't have to end this way. I was really looking forward to a life after Dan. His future, my future...it petrified me, then Vlad came in and gave me hope I might be able to see myself graduate from high school, go to college. To have a LIFE! With him even, cause once I got to know him he wasn't such a bad guy. He was hurting in his own way and I could never see it before. He would have been a good mentor...I know it. And now I get the chance to die the way I've tried to live this last year. A hero. I'm gonna take it. The silver-lining to this is once you kill me, Dan will- AHHHHH!"

After that, the veins in his head throbbed and as he screamed, Danny's eyes clouded over as he went silent again. Sadly, the other ghost, or Dan according to Danny, picked this moment to boast and laughed cruelly, "Ooh, nice try, Danny! If you had managed to get just a few more words out you would have spilled the beans! Just like all other events in your life, you get so close to success, but something else always gets in the way. At least it was only me this time." His shifted his gaze back onto me and I felt a chill run up my spine from that deadly look in his blood red eyes as his lips curled into another wicked smile and he pointed out, "Well Val, I'd say you blew your one chance at saving your dad's life. But since I'm feeling generous though I think I'll clue you in on a little secret. Danny was never going to die, not by your hand at any rate, I still need him after all. Sadly, I can't say the same thing about you or your old man. Looks like he's going to be the first casualty of war after all. Hmm, now how to do it? Snap of the neck? Ripping his still-beating heart out? Or maybe I'll just rip him apart one piece at a time so you can watch him scream some more..."

I heard my dad groan, he was helpless in Dan's grasp and I had to admit I was powerless to help him. Gritting my teeth, I looked up at Dan with venom in my eyes, and snarled, "You heartless monster!"

Dan looked amused at my outburst...and it was hard to fathom something this evil existed when had the audacity to smile at me like that. "I know," Dan replied cooly as if he'd heard it a thousand times already and was bored with it. "You're definitely not the first person to say that as I slowly killed their loved one. And just now you got this intense fire in your eyes as I threatened to rip the life from your dear daddy! I like it. So Valerie, what are you gonna do about it?"

Ashamed, I looked away and could only reply meekly, "Nothing. There's...nothing I can do to stop you..."

Damn it, what possessed me to press the distress signal? I knew absolutely nothing about what was happening or how big a threat Dan was, and I dragged my dad into this. And that was gonna get him killed. No, not a ghost, Dan was nothing but an animal. A monster who delights in the suffering of others and likes to slowly tear his prey apart and watch them squirm.

"That's a shame. I take back what I said, about you being a bully. Really, maybe this whole time your tough act has been a front. For all that bluster and fury, maybe it just masked a scared little girl who would rather live one more minute than die helping her own father. As much as I loathe heroes, at least they take action. You're just a coward, and there is no pleasure in torturing cowards", Dan looked back at my dad with malicious intent in his eyes.

He looked at him like a cat would a caught mouse, trying to figure out the best way to kill it. And I had to admit something to myself...he was right, I was a coward. I couldn't bring myself to kill Danny because I was afraid of the consequences. Everyone that was close to Danny would despise me for taking him from them...even if he did ask me to do it. And if I tried to help my dad, I would probably be dead by now, and he'd have to live seeing that, even if it wasn't for long. Is dying like that really heroic? I-I didn't know! And it was tearing me up inside feeling like I failed everyone so horribly...

Danny made it look so easy. Even after hearing him tell me how much he felt he screwed up himself, I still envied how he could stick to his gut and fight for what mattered to him. It was still hard to believe that Fenton and Phantom were the same this whole time, which is why I didn't want to buy it. I wish he could have trusted me instead of lying to me about it, but at least now I know it was for a good reason. Jack and Maddie were good people, but even for me their obsession with ghosts was hard to ignore. The thought of them experimenting on their own son trying to fix him terrified me! He might be half-ghost, but when he chose my dad over himself, it convinced me that that was Danny himself talking to me. Which...Which meant it really was all up to me to-

"...ugh...where?" I suddenly heard Danny's mom groan from where she was tied up nearby with her husband.

"Maddie! Are you ok?" Jack exclaimed loudly, drawing Dan's attention over to them like a total idiot. Despite the desperate situation we were in, I mentally facepalmed because he should have kept quiet and tried whispering to her instead to come up with a plan to break free and help me! No wonder all the ghost fighting landed squarely on Danny's shoulders...his parents really sucked at this job. Still, this bought us at least a little more time- or so I thought.

"Ah, looks like our last guest has arrived! About time too, I was about to run out of entertainment!" Dan cackled, dropping my dad like a sack of potatoes on the ground then brushing his hands as if wiping the dirt off. "I was beginning to wonder if you'd ever show up...Vlad."

And with that, all eyes turned to the figure walking towards us through the smoke and my eyes brightened hopefully. Now we were talking! If Vlad Masters was here he'd teach this ghost a thing or two with his advanced ghost fighting tech. I may have been wrong about Danny, but I wasn't wrong about Mr. Masters! If anyone could save my dad and the rest of us, he could. I didn't even bother questioning how he found us so fast, all I knew...was that there was still some hope for us after all.

* * *

Vlad's POV

It took some time to evade the Fright Knight, but the moment I did I prepared as best I could and made my way to Amity Park. There was no reason to bother searching elsewhere for Daniel if what he told me was true, that should Dan ever break free and put his plans into action the first thing he would do would be to target Daniel's family and make him watch to crush his spirit. And once I did arrive a few teleports later, I saw the smoldering ruins of what was left of most of the town. Normally the more vindictive side of me would have thought it served these people right for taking Daniel's protection for granted, but given the dire situation my little badger was in those petty feelings were the last thing on my mind.

It also helped that I knew this ghost was after my power as well for whatever reason meaning he wasn't going to bother trying to hide. He WANTED to be found. And wherever he was, I was certain Daniel was as well. To save time however I expanded my ghost sense to the absolute limit, searching for a trace of him, and before long it led me to the park in the center of town and I flew there invisibly to assess the situation before diving in considering how powerful my foe was and how limited my knowledge was...

Still, something the Fright Knight said has been bothering me. He said I've known this ghost for a long time, but how could that be if he was from the future? A clone no less? The only conclusion I could come up with was that perhaps one of my failed clones survived somehow in the present timeline and eventually became Dan in his timeline who stole my ghost half. Either way, it was pointless to speculate about it now. Dan would pay for what he'd done and meet a most painful end for daring to harm my little badger!

Before long, I tracked Daniel down but something was wrong, very wrong. I could feel the presence of this powerful ghost but unlike before when it was so faint it was indistinguishable it was so strong now it was almost oppressive, even to me. But that's not the troubling part, the troubling part was how similar it felt to my power and Daniel's. How could that be though? Was this ghost the one who had already stolen our ghost halves and merged into this new being? If so then why did he need Daniel so badly? Why try breaking him and luring me to them?

The answer to that question was more shocking than I could have imagined...

It didn't take long for me to close in on their location and when I did, thanks to my ghost hearing Dan's voice was the first to come into focus and I recognized it from the security tapes where I saw a sort of...echo of him that was attached to Daniel somehow much like a classic ghost in most horror films. Either way, he was boasting about something and since I needed to learn more about my enemy I suppressed my ghost signature as much as possible and came as close as I dared to hear more of what Dan was saying. To my surprise though, Dan was addressing none other than Miss Gray who looked like she'd taken quite the beating and was seriously injured and at long last I finally saw Daniel and it took all of my self-restraint not to swoop in and snatch him right away when I saw how helpless and dazed he looked since Dan was controlling him somehow. But seeing it first hand, those cracks I saw pulse on Daniel's face didn't seem natural, least of all for someone being overshadowed. And even then he seemed to have some awareness and every so often would react to something Dan told young Valerie.

However, it wasn't until Dan began addressing himself as if he and Daniel were the same person and disclosing intimate details only he would know that I finally understood. Dan wasn't some clone...he was...Daniel himself. He was an evil twisted version of a boy who had lost everything and then once he'd been corrupted by my ghost half he abandoned his humanity and morals to take revenge upon the world on a scale that not even I could fathom.

Dan knew everything about me too. Everything from my involvement in making Valerie a ghost hunter to the accident that made me half ghost, which I knew for a FACT was something only Daniel and I knew. Not only that, but he voiced many of Daniel's fears and concerns which he did confess to me eventually whether it was willingly or after an emotional outburst when he couldn't stop himself. No wonder Daniel was so afraid of telling me the truth! No wondered he tried to carry this burden alone because once we started to become close Daniel began to fear that even I would see him as a monster and reject him. But if anything this only made me want to save him more from such a cruel fate...

While still wrapping my mind around this revelation, who should finally show up but Jack and Maddie to try to stop Dan from ruining their town. Well, part of me hoped they really had shaped up and would prioritize rescuing Valerie first. Heaven knows she was no longer in any shape to fight. What's more, it seemed that Dan had every intention of killing her too because in his timeline she actually grew to become quite the ghost hunter. And again, if not for the current situation I would have been very impressed that she grew to become a threat to a ghost this powerful and defended the world's last sanctuary for at least ten years before Dan finally gained the upper hand and tore down the ghost shield. This also explained Daniel's reaction to my announcement to share ghost shield technology and saying things were _'repeating'_ just like in Dan's timeline.

It all made perfect sense now.

Either way, I quietly watched the fight unfold as I formulated a plan but was shocked to see that Damon Gray himself came to his daughter's aid. Did she send a message to him somehow or was this the result of him joining forces with the Fenton's once again once the town was threatened by a powerful ghost? Either way, this was no place for a man like him even with his security experience because protecting a lab against thieves and fighting ghosts were two entirely different things.

I must admit, seeing Maddie again left me with mixed feelings and even I felt for her when her composure shattered and she demanded that Dan release her son. But since she dared to call him _'infected'_ by ghosts when replying to Jack only hardened my heart again and I continued to watch, waiting for an opening to put my plan into action. I internally flinched when Dan noticed Damon trying to reach his daughter who was being guarded by Daniel and he threw him right at Maddie and the two of them collided and it left Maddie unconscious, that looked like it had to hurt but they were alive for now so they should count themselves lucky. Even now Dan was still just toying with them, waiting for something and I had a feeling that something was me.

After that, while it usually goes against my nature I almost revealed myself when Dan electrocuted Valerie's father and the poor girl begged for him to stop. It was a painful scene even for me to watch. Once the man also lost consciousness, Dan turned his attention to Jack who was cradling Maddie in his arms and we were both surprised by how helpless and lost he sounded when Jack confessed he was completely lost without her. It wasn't so much him admitting to his incompetence that surprised me, it was when Jack said that essentially Maddie was at her breaking point and could no longer keep a clear head about wanting to save their son. So, they did still care about Daniel after all? I thought for sure they would have given up by now and drowned in their grief and misery knowing that they're the ones who did this to him. Then again, maybe the fact that I was supposedly helping them look gave these two hope that someday Daniel would come home to them.

My attention returned to Dan when he returned his attention to Valerie and made an offer he thought she couldn't refuse but it was clearly a ruse. As soon as he suggested that she kill Daniel so her father would be spared I knew it was nothing but a bluff. He needed Daniel's ghost half and mine to exist, so really Dan was only toying with her for as long as possible while biding his time til I showed up. Little did he know I was already there. I heard almost everything Dan told them about himself and his relationship with Daniel. And whether the rest of them believed him or not, it didn't matter-

He still planned to kill every last one of them.

* * *

As soon as I heard Daniel make his idiotic speech to Valerie as he made what he thought was his final plea with every intention of sacrificing himself, that's when I knew it was the time to act. Daniel was used to playing the hero, but I wasn't about to let him sacrifice anything else, least of all his life. I promised I would save him. And I sure as hell was going to stay true to that promise...

That's why I broke my cover the moment Maddie awoke and slowly approached them once Dan called out to me. I wasn't sure how but he must have known I was there all along even with my signature suppressed, then again if this...thing was half of me as well then perhaps he could sense my core energy as easily as his own since Daniel was the core of HIS existence. I remained in ghost form however as I did, wanting to give him a false impression that I had ever intention of fighting him when in reality...I didn't.

I had something else in mind.

"Well well, look who decided to finally grace us with his presence." Dan sneered, meanwhile behind him I saw Daniel flinch again as a look of horror spread across his face and his body trembled with the effort of fighting against Dan's control again while trying to force more words out of his throat. And in all likeliness, those words were meant to be a warning or Daniel wanted to tell me to run and save myself. But while I didn't know much about Dan, I knew Daniel about as well as I knew myself, meaning I had some idea of how to play to his tune.

Besides, as I said...I was done hiding.

"Hello Daniel," I began, crossing my arms and ignoring the shocked expression on their faces when it was Plasmius, not Vlad Masters, who strolled up to this unknown ghost claiming to be Danny Phantom's evil self from the future and the former son of Jack and Maddie Fenton.

His smug expression faltered a bit when I used that name but he quickly got over it and smiled when suddenly Jack exclaimed angrily, "The Wisconsin Ghost!? What're you doing here punk? Are you a part of this too?!"

I rolled my eyes, not in the mood to explain the situation to him in terms his puny brain could comprehend. Besides, Dan was more than happy to gloat further and explained it all for me, "Oh that's right...I forgot that you created another monster long before me. It should really come as no surprise to you that your old college buddy came to enjoy the show since he always wanted you dead anyway after you ruined his life. Just like you ruined your son's."

"What are you talking about? That's not-" Maddie began, blinking away the dizziness that swept over her from what was most likely a concussion from hitting her head earlier.

She seemed confused, but at the same time almost frightened because both of them were still trying to deny the truth Dan already told them about Danny, their son, being half-ghost and they clearly saw him transform before their eyes from Phantom to Fenton and back again when Dan was making his threats. There was an uncertainty in her eyes I wasn't used to which makes sense given that I never told them the truth about me. Why should I? They left me to my fate and went off to happily get married and have children while I was left alone, surrounded by strangers for years who never did quite figure out what was wrong with me. I realize now that my obsession with her was born from a false hope that I could ever reclaim something from my old life, something I wanted more than anything or thought I did before Daniel came along. And Jack, he was always an idiot but at the same time, even I could not deny that deep down he loved his family very much and would have never harmed them on purpose. So in the end...did the same every apply to me? Would he have faced me after his carelessness hurt me and put me in the hospital if I'd given him that chance?

I only caught the last bit of Dan's little spiel as my focus returned to the arrogant ghost before me as he told them, "...for it to be you who would ultimately break his heart and drive him to depravity. He tried to clone your son, you know. If he couldn't have you, he figured he could at least have Danny. And it created a rift that took them ages to patch when you shot your own son and he slowly nursed him back to health. He'll never completely forgive you you know. It's funny how the creature always turns on the maker. AFTER ALL! He is YOUR monster, Jack and Maddie! You both share equal blame in his creation. Isn't that right Vladdy?"

I scowled in response but didn't grace him with a response; at least, not the one Dan was expecting. To me, it didn't matter anymore what Jack or Maddie thought of me. It didn't matter if they knew the truth. All that mattered was saving Daniel even if it meant his life in Amity Park would be over forever and I would have to do a lot of damage control to ensure his parents could never touch him again once they knew the boy was in my care since I'd long since built a case against them and no one was going to believe the word of two ghost hunters when put up against the richest man in the world. As for Valerie and Damon, well, it'd be a shame to lose their skills but in the end...like the Fright Knight I could afford to lose them as underlings. What I couldn't afford was to lose my little badger so now was the time to act, to show him exactly how far I was willing to go for his sake...

Which is precisely why I shocked them all, by turning human.


	72. Ambivalence

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (5/28/2019):** It's happening people, after this chapter it's onto the true finale where we find out what Dan's fate ultimately becomes. This has been a long and crazy journey and I've said this before, I'm sad to see it end but at the same time, typos aside, I am so proud of how this turned out and to everyone who helped support me and encouraged me to see this through to the end...

* * *

Chapter 71: Ambivalence

* * *

Vlad's POV

All eyes were on me, wide with shock as I transformed before their eyes. Even Dan was taken aback by the unexpected development. He and had no witty comeback this time since what I'd done was completely out of character. Especially if he really was part of Daniel or at least one I once knew in another timeline who knew I would never do such a thing under normal circumstances...

On a side note, I completely ignored Jack when he stuttered, "V-man...? You're...the Wisconsin ghost? Please tell me this is some kind of joke! You're not, you CAN'T be-"

"No, not you too..." I also heard Valerie mutter in a weak broken voice barely above a whisper as all the color drained from her face, believing all hope was now lost.

As for Maddie, she was too stunned to speak at all. Her violet eyes were slightly misty and downcast, mind reeling as she attempted to process the fact that Dan everything told them was true. And honestly, I felt as though the proof that the two of us were hybrids was irrefutable now. We both transformed from ghost to human and back again in an instant, and even Jack and Maddie must know that while some ghosts can change the appearance of their human hosts if someone is being overshadowed by one, it was nothing like this...

Those transformations were usually through some sort of object belonging to the ghost acting as a catalyst to their power, not the ghost themselves causing such a drastic change. What we've done was practically unheard of. But given how we ARE the only two half-ghosts in existence, who were created through an accident involving the prototype and final version of their first major invention together, their part of our making was impossible to deny. It was just as Dan said, all of it, which only solidified my belief that he wasn't a clone with implanted memories from Daniel's past. After all, many of the things he told them, some of them were things about Daniel that even I didn't know...

Things I've only guessed at regarding his true feelings.

Taking a deep breath, I steeled myself for what I had to do next because even though I planned this...revealing my secret to anyone willingly, let alone Jack and Maddie, was something I never thought I would do in a thousand years. And poor Daniel, his expression looked just as heart-wrenching as a choked whimper escaped his lips once it became clear what my intentions were.

His hands clenched into tight fists as Daniel fought to regain control of his actions; his nails digging into his skin even through his gloves and staining them with bright green ectoplasmic blood that dripped freely through his fingers. I could see it happening after briefly glancing at him before returning my undivided attention to Dan, who seemed to have recovered from the shock and was glaring at me suspiciously. I couldn't afford to focus on Daniel for too long, lest Dan realize why I was really doing this...

"I must say, you've caused a lot of damage for one ghost. Color me impressed. This town certainly needed some redecorating anyway," I began since Dan seemed to be content with trying to figure out what I was scheming.

"This is nothing compared to what I have planned for the rest of the world, I assure you," he replied coldly, his voice laced with pure malice. But then Dan's lips curled in a coy grin as he pointed out, "It's been a long time, Vlad. To be honest, I completely forgot what you looked like. The last time I saw you you were human and sobbing over our dearly departed Danny. I gifted him with release from this mortal coil, and you grieved over that. Pathetic. That's what you were, then and now. It's the first and last time I saw you for the true coward you really are without your powers. They may have made you who you are, but I obviously improved upon it. Now that you're here though I'm looking forward to seeing if you can still keep up with me, old man. I've been looking forward to fighting you again most of all and crushing the life out of you like you always deserved. Let's face it, we both knew I was always the better ghost anyway. You're just the old run down model I was created from. The real _'obsolete'_ one."

"Ah, but all great things have to begin somewhere, don't they?" I argued mildly, resting my hands behind my back. "Without those fateful accidents we had with the first ghost portals in existence, neither of us would have these powers. And from the little Daniel told me about you, you also need me for your plans to work. Or at least part of me. That's why I'm here."

Crossing his arms, Dan raised an eyebrow and scoffed, "You can't seriously be thinking of striking a bargain with me at this point, are you? Even you can't be that stupid."

His smile widened revealing fangs similar to my own as he continued, "By coming here you've already sealed your fate and signed your own death sentence either way. I can always just take what I want from you so I'm afraid your little ploy is doomed to fail. You holed yourself up like a rat for ten years in my timeline because the Vlad I knew understood he was only on borrowed time. I would find and kill him eventually. You are no different. But tell me, why did you bother revealing your precious secret now of all times? Don't tell me you want to ask me if you can take Danny away and leave the rest of them to die in exchange? That's rich! As if Danny would ever forgive you if you did that Vladdy, even to save his sorry skin, and you know it. You can torture him, wipe his memories, brainwash him or...remove his humanity all you want, but in our core, we'll never forget what you did to us, or forgive. And I for one can't wait to remind you what true pain feels like!"

Raising a hand to fling an attack at me, I calmly held up my hand and waved it passively to stop him as I explained, "Well, unlike the Vlad you appear to be used to I realized the futility of hiding. The moment I got close enough I could feel the power you wield radiating from where you stood. Before the first punch was even thrown I knew that I was bested already. Therefore, I've decided that if I have to give up everything I've worked hard for, at least I know it will go to someone who will realize their full potential and make good use of the gift that we bestowed upon you in your timeline to create the perfect being. Someone who will teach those who have wronged us a lesson they'll never forget..."

Glancing at Jack, with that stupid dumbfounded expression still plastered on his face, I added bitterly, "And you're right, I really should be thanking Jack for the incredible abilities his foolish actions have granted me and his son. Because of him, I was able to rise to power much more quickly and became the man I am today. Thanks to those powers, for once in his life Daniel also felt like he'd found a purpose, even if it wasn't what he originally wanted to do in life. It was something they drilled into his head about being destined to _'fight ghosts'_ even once part of him literally became like one. So even if it was for but a brief moment, I finally wasn't alone in the world anymore. I had Daniel. As such I have no regrets, save one. As we both know my hatred for this man, Jack, it runs quite deep, especially after learning he subjected his own son to the same cruel fate as mine after he stole the woman of my dreams and exposed their children to the same dangerous ghost equipment that nearly killed me thanks to ectoplasmic radiation. It's about time Jack learned that his actions, no, both of their actions, have lasting consequences. They'll die knowing that Daniel and I...are their victims. For without them, you would not exist either; a version of their son who cracked under the pressure and after giving into temptation to cheat his way into their hearts with a perfect score on some test since nothing else he did seemed to work, and he lost everything as I once did due to unforeseen circumstances."

Ignoring his still hostile posture, I stepped slightly closer to where my Daniel stood vigil over Miss Gray, who was trying very hard not to sob at the sight of her father wounded and sprawled on the ground. As for me, I was making absolutely sure Dan's gaze was locked only on me as I settled to a stop and then continued almost thoughtfully, "As I understand it, you are the result of my ghost half and Daniel's merging together correct? But if that's all you need to exist then why hurry? If you let us live a while longer, I'll give you what you want and more. Because even with my powers, there is much I'm sure that even you do not know about what you have always been capable of, Dan. And if you ARE still intent on killing everyone else, well, it took me this long to finally win him over and since I refuse to lose Daniel now while it goes against my nature, I've decided that if giving you my power willingly will spare them for even one more day then-"

As soon as he heard me say that, Dan let out a cruel booming laugh and snorted, "Sacrifice yourself? Oh please, you're Vlad Masters! You're the most arrogant and selfish man on the planet! Why shouldn't I call your bluff and take it while you're in human form?"

Whirling around to face him, my eyes flashed red as I snapped, "Cause I'm a father now, you half-wit! Or at least I try to act like one unlike that oaf Jack over here! Did you really think I would reveal my secret in front of just ANYONE unless it was for a damn good reason? If you really ARE a version of Daniel, you should know that it has always been my dream to become a father and have a son, a dream that was taken from me when the woman I loved married my so-called best friend and left me to rot in a hospital bed for YEARS! But then I met Daniel and discovered he was half-ghost too, which to me made us even more closely related than if we had shared the same blood. I cannot begin to describe how happy that made me to know I was no longer alone in this wretched world with no one to pass my legacy onto. Because he exists, the only other being like me who understands what it means to be the victim of the same stupidity, I felt as though I found a kindred spirit even if he didn't realize it yet!"

Glaring at the Fenton couple I spat, "And after Jack and Maddie nearly robbed the life of the present Daniel from me by shooting him, seriously injuring him with an untested new invention to the point where he was mere minutes away from death, when he told me in a fevered daze how much pain it caused him that was comparable to the accident that originally made him half-ghost, which was far worse than what I endured over the course of many years after I was blasted in the face with ecto-radiation, I won't lie, I wanted Jack dead more than ever because in both cases he's the one who pulled the trigger! I even abandoned my feeling of love and adoration for Maddie because what sort of mother would let her husband write their son off as someone that they should _'put out of his misery'_ when they didn't even know all the facts behind why their human son also disappeared when they attacked his ghost persona? It's like the moment they realized they had hurt their son, that's when they finally started to give a damn about how the consequences of their actions affected their children! It was only when one of them went missing that they started to tread more carefully when they should have been more careful from the beginning long before the 2nd accident with their new fully realized ghost portal that made Daniel just like me in the first place! If not for my offer to help them search, I have no doubt in my mind that they would have abandoned him too. Just like they abandoned their best friend from college. Yet in spite of it all, in spite how much he's suffered at their hand, Daniel still loves them and wanted things to work out somehow since they promised to love him no matter what. And how do they respond to that undeserved loyalty? They chose to ignore their mistakes, again, and leave the clean up to someone else instead of owning up to their actions!"

Dan nodded in agreement, giving me that much, and snickered, "You should have shared some of that ire with Danny and told him long before now what they're really like and how easy it is for them to turn their backs on everyone. It would have spared my human self a lot of suffering you know. Then again, I suppose the Vlad I knew simply got tired of watching my human self snivel like a little brat over the deaths of these losers who only dragged him down. But once they were out of the way you got your wish, you made him into something greater. You made me. Aren't you just so proud of your _'son?'_ " More seriously though he added, "Unfortunately for you, the only way for us to truly stay together, is for you to join with me permanently. Become a part of me and we'll rule this world together just like you always wanted, otherwise, these pests will only get in the way again which is why I'm getting rid of them myself. You know this; as long as they're around, he'll never be entirely yours. They've taken everything else from us, so why keep letting them...? Isn't that what you've been teaching him? That it's alright to be selfish? I'd say Danny's learning THAT from the best there is on the subject. The only way to ever get what you really want is to take it and crush anyone who gets in your way."

Taking a moment to scan the area, pretending to look contemplative, a smile of my own crept onto my face as I looked up at Dan again now that I no longer had to keep up the act since he hadn't noticed what I'd done yet and replied, "Oh, I intend to remain a part of his life, but I'm afraid the same does not extend to you. I have what I want, and MY Daniel has what he needs. So it would seem as though you no longer have a place in this world either. Now, if we're done here I believe Daniel and I have a date with destiny. One that does not include you. Really, my boy, 10 years was clearly not enough time for you to grow up and discover that there's always a bigger ghost. Even I know this, so when you challenge someone you know already that you've faced before...do not assume they'll always play the game the same every time. It's simple chess. Kings, queens, bishops, and even your lowly pawns. How great or small your piece is is of no consequence. A good player uses strategy to win. A great player can adapt and use multiple strategies. They also aim to never use the same trick too soon or too obviously. You assume I can't adapt, can't CHANGE, and that makes you an utter novice. Maybe your Vlad failed to adapt and accepted defeat, but I've been conforming to a brand new way of thinking the last four months. Clearly, if I was able to remove your pawns and constrict your moves as I just did...that pretty much speaks for itself."

"What?" Dan scowled, whirling around to discover that Jack, Maddie, Damon, and Valerie were all missing and there was no trace of them.

"Aren't surprises fun? Remember, every ounce of that cunning came from me first, Daniel," I smirked, transforming into Plasmius as I rushed at him.

His back was still turned to me so I managed to land a solid hit, but he recovered quickly and Dan lashed his forked tongue at me and hissed, "Very clever cheese-head, but not nearly good enough!"

I expected him to come after me in a fit of rage after I mocked him and we'd exchange blows so I'd be able to study his movements, but Dan also had a nasty trick up his sleeve and I grunted when an energy blast hit me from behind as well and Daniel himself joined the fray. I shifted my gaze between the two of them but Dan only smirked and said, "Since you're only here for Danny, let's see if you can take him! Make sure to put on a good show for me V-man! I'd hate to see you disappoint me like Valerie did..."

I narrowed my gaze and moved to attack Dan again with a swift punch when he briefly dissipated into a thin ectoplasmic mist and flew out of range as Daniel came flying at me at full speed. I turned to face him just in time to dodge to the left and fly high into the air, making a mental note of where Dan had slunk off to and where Daniel was, making a sharp turn to veer back up to come after me, his eyes glowing impossibly green as he unleashed a savage battle cry and shot a volley of energy beams at me. His aim really was improving which was a blessing and a curse since Daniel was being forced to attack and was likely blinded by his old feelings of hatred towards me. I could see a fire burning in his eyes as though Daniel was locked into battle-mode and nothing else registered. At least, that's how it appeared.

Daniel's sights were locked onto me but not once did I return the favor and attack because even if he was going all out again due to Dan's manipulation he was in no condition to keep fighting like this. Beads of sweat dotted his brow the moment he came close enough and Daniel's eyes were wild and glazed, his expression pained as he panted heavily and fought with every ounce of strength he had left which Dan knew wasn't much. His younger self was still only a boy, and no doubt his plans to wear him down physically and mentally were taking their toll on Daniel...

I was reminded of how mercilessly Daniel fought me after the misunderstanding about Skulker, and only now did it made sense why Daniel's eyes briefly flashed red in pure anger after he nearly destroyed the Shade Striker that attacked us. Somehow even then Daniel was channeling Dan's emotions, his dark, ruthless, and angry ones that mirrored his own hidden feelings of frustration at the injustice he's endured for so long. And if what Dan said to Valerie was true, the reason he could control Danny was because some part of him has remained inside of Daniel this entire time ever since their last encounter, festering like an open wound the more he let his fear and uncertainty open him up to possession.

Normally I'd attempt to remove it somehow but it was too dangerous to try manipulating Daniel's ghost energy right now using my own since Dan would sense it immediately and intervene. Therefore what I needed to do was snap Daniel out of it some other way, give him the strength and will to fight again since I knew...I knew Daniel wasn't a monster. He was and would forever be my little badger and I stand by what I said, nothing I learned about him would change how I feel, not even this.

My attention returned to our battle since I needed to make it convincing without alerting Dan to my intentions again so I duplicated myself to corner Daniel and all three of them grabbed the boy and hoisted him higher into the air as I charged a ball of energy between my hands and released it. As I did, however, as expected Daniel countered my attack after shaking off the duplicates and our attacks met in midair and exploded, stunning him since it'd been a little too close for comfort by the time he reacted. He blinked and shook his head, eyes unfocused so I moved in for another _'attack'_ and grabbed him by the wrists, twisted them behind his back, and gave him a mild shock just to make it look convincing and to jar him out of his daze hopefully long enough for my words to reach him.

Daniel struggled weakly, unable to pry himself free and coughed up some ectoplasm but even so, I held him close and began hastily, "Daniel, I know you're in there so listen to me closely. I know you can never be like that monster controlling you. You can't take a life, Daniel. You couldn't take mine after all, and of all the people on this planet I probably deserve it the most, and yet you decided not to. That is who you ARE! Not a monster, but a human, and a spectacular one at that. I know it's hard to feel at times, but it's the truth, and I hate how you fail to see it more often than not. I won't lie to you though, there may come a day when the person who's life you extinguish might not be as bad as Dan. Or you were caught in the heat of the moment. Or you did it on bad instinct. This wasn't one of those times. This is an enemy that knew you as well as you know yourself and is willing to exploit you to no end to corrupt you to bring himself back into existence again. Don't doubt your actions here, Daniel! You did everything you could to stop this from happening, and even though it was hard, your intentions were good which tells me that like it or not you're still a nauseating goodie-two-shoes to the very core!"

"I...I'm...I'm not..." Daniel began in a hoarse voice, his shoulders shaking violently in my grasp.

Undaunted by his feeble response, however, I whirled him around to face me directly and all but roared in his face, "Don't you dare say you're no hero Daniel! You ARE a hero and a damn good one at that! And I for one envy that about you because you're something I can never be! I'm the one who corrupted you, tortured you, caused you unimaginable pain JUST like your parents yet you chose to give someone like me a chance and forgave me like it was nothing! But I can never do that. I'll never forgive Jack or Maddie for what they did. So I'll choose to forget...forget about revenge so long as you're by my side to finally give me something worth fighting for! To give me a reason to be a better man like my father would have wanted me to be! Because Daniel, you were right, I chose to isolate myself but you didn't. This was forced on you and was what Dan wanted. He wanted you to feel like you are alone in this world and that everyone was against you. It's because of you that I realize even I was wrong back then, and perhaps if I'd had someone to guide me when I became half-ghost I would have chosen another path just like you did. We both became hybrids because of your parents, but you chose to be a hero, not a villain. So prove now, prove to me and to the world that you are and will forever be Danny Phantom!"

After that, Daniel trembled and after phasing out of my grip he floated a little further away from me while trying to process what I said. I didn't rush to his side like I normally would have because I needed to see this for myself. I needed to see if my words and guidance had the impact I hoped it did over these long months. Daniel needed to be the one to see he could break free of Dan's clutches, even with some outside help.

And right now Daniel was fighting as hard as he could as he let out a vicious roar then rushed forward, tackling me and wrapping his arms around my torso as he pushed us both towards the ground. I phased through it just in time to avoid the impact but he remained there and savaged the concrete beneath him with successive blows from his fists which were encased with ecto-energy. His roar carried with it neither desperation or an absence of hope, but a resounding strength as he poured all of his emotions into each blow, but he didn't let Dan direct his aggression back at me even when the dust began to settle and I reappeared close by.

Daniel shortly abandoned his screaming and assault on the ground then grew silent as he clutched his head, chest heaving. And with that, the fight continued where I couldn't follow, in his mind. It felt like minutes, but mere seconds passed by as he struggled with himself. And then he went limp as his hands fell to his sides and his head rested on his chest.

I slowly approached him as he sat in a catatonic state and paid no heed to my presence as I came ever closer. "Daniel?" I called softly as I drew close enough to get a better look at him.

Unlike before when his expression was lifeless and empty, now he looked peaceful, like any conflict he was suffering no longer plagued him. _Did you finally win, my little badger?_ I wondered, watching him with bated breath.

In a timely response, Daniel slowly picked himself up and took a deep breath. I could feel the ecto-energy suddenly charging in his right hand once more just before he swiveled to the left and shot it into the air above and bolted off after it. I looked up and saw Dan hovering above, he'd been watching us no doubt and had been very amused. The key phrase being _'had been.'_ Dan was caught off-guard but barely managed to dodge Daniel's sudden bolt of raw energy. Daniel clearly planned on this though since he greeted Dan as he was recovering and round-back an attack and let it snap when it reached its apex. This time, Dan had no luck dodging as his orbit was broken and he was sent crashing back towards Amity and through some vacant buildings off in the distance.

Soon after, Daniel returned and greeted me later with a determined air, fists clenched, but his eyes betrayed how weary he really was even after that burst of strength. Still, this fight was far from over so without wasting too much time on sentiment I told him, "It's good to see that you've regained control, Daniel. I'm so proud of you because I knew you were stronger than that."

He nodded, "I am too, Vlad, I'm done with being his puppet. I'm sick and tired of having this creep looming over my future. I'm done. I'm DONE, and I just...want this to be over."

Before he could catch himself, Daniel slumped to the ground and took some long and deep breaths, his shoulders shaking from overexertion. I sat next to him and put my arm around him and gave his shoulder a squeeze, wondering how much longer he could hold out.

Even so, I made him this promise and said, "It will be, you have me by your side now, and you finally wrest yourself free from his control. And I can tell you're more exhausted than you want to let on, but the important thing is that you have the will to fight again. He'll be back soon, and we need to be ready for him. So what do you say? Shall we take back our future together and show him that ours is better than his?"

A moment of silence went by before Daniel slowly pushed himself up and looked around him sullenly, before he glared in the direction he sent Dan flying off in and snarled, "Yeah. Let's finish this. Together."


	73. Inevitability

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (9/5/2019):** This is it...this is where Danny's ultimate enemy faces off against the two halves of himself that made Dan what he is. Dan thought nothing important would change this time around, but it has. Dan thought Vlad was the same selfish man he once knew, but he isn't. And that, my friends, will lead to his downfall! I'm so excited to finally share the long-awaited first half of the finale of this story with all of you and set the stage for the eventual sequel. What I'll work on after this though, I have no idea. Well, ok that's not true I have a few other story ideas but once this one is completely finished I'm going to enjoy a well-deserved break. I've been working on this story for over a year now and it gave me something to focus on whenever things got pretty hard for me in real life. I used it to vent some of my own frustration from personal experience about being tied down by unrealistic expectations and then one day reaching the realization that taking care of myself isn't selfish, it's necessary. And I think we can all agree that everyone needs at least one person in their life that gets it and supports them through thick an thin, so I'm glad I was able to turn things around for Vlad in this story so he could become a better person and someone Danny could actually rely on. Anyways, thank you all so much for your reviews and supportive comments cheering me on and letting me know all the hard work I've put into this along with my beta reader and best friend was worth it. And I sincerely hope I'll see you once work on the sequel begins!

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Chapter 72: Inevitability

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Danny's POV

I was completely exhausted by the time I finally came to my senses with some much-needed help from Vlad. I finally realize how much I needed it now. Trying to take this on all by myself had been a huge mistake, one that I needed to do whatever it took to fix instead of beating myself up about making it in the first place. Not gonna lie though, I was beyond worn out to the point that it was only the strength of my anger that kept me going. But at least this time it was a good kind of anger, justified because Dan NEEDED to be stopped at all costs.

He isn't just any old ghost that I can beat up, toss into the Ghost Zone, and call it a day then repeat the process all over again before long since they eventually found their way back into our world again no matter what I did. And Dan is the one ghost besides the Ghost King himself that I know for a fact is powerful enough to tear both sides of our world apart; I've seen it with my own two eyes so if any of us hope to survive this time he needs to be exterminated. I know that now. I just wasn't willing to go that far before. I only hope that annihilating Dan will get rid whatever part of him is still inside me, infecting me like some kind of ghostly parasite.

Otherwise, I was in for a world of trouble if he got to me again.

The hard part now is actually finding Dan again since he had probably long since recovered from my surprise attack and was currently lying in wait somewhere, poised to strike when we least expected it. Because of that Vlad stayed relatively close to me the whole time we were looking for Dan just in case I couldn't go on any further and needed to be taken from the battlefield for my own safety as well as his. Because staying would only put everyone, including Vlad, in danger if I couldn't fight back or defend myself. And I didn't want to be a liability to him.

I was still determined to see this through to the bitter end one way or another though. No more hiding, no more running. If I was ever to regain control over my life and my future it was now or never because there would be no more second chances after this.

That said, while we were looking for Dan together I decided that now was as good a time as any to give Vlad a complete rundown of his powers and what attacks I knew he could use after fighting Dan one on one at least twice before. I kept everything I told him strictly business-like though since I couldn't afford to get wrapped up in all of the emotional baggage again right now. All that really matters at this point in the game is that Vlad is here now and he saved me just like he said he would in more ways than one.

Vlad accepted me even after learning the truth about Dan; because his existence was my biggest darkest secret that I tried so hard to hide from him out of fear because I was afraid of Vlad rejecting me just like my parents did when they treated me like some kind of dangerous monster. And that childish fear of mine kept eating away at me just like Dan wanted it to. That hesitation is what kept me from telling Vlad about all of this much sooner. It wasn't until now that I really understood why Clockwork told me that this whole thing with Dan was never going to end unless I trusted Vlad with the truth, all of it. I needed to believe that if he could change, so could our future...

Not that it really mattered anymore.

I've been keeping this secret for so long that even now its kinda scary wondering what Vlad, my parents, and Val must think of me now. But unlike before I also felt confident that there was still a way for us to fix this if Vlad and I worked together. And I for one wasn't going to keep anything else from him anymore. The time for hesitation and secrets was over because if I didn't tell them to him now, well, if we lose this fight, we would be taking those secrets to our graves. And I didn't want to go on to whatever afterlife there was for people like us with that on my track record.

If any small detail I gave Vlad now could make the difference between victory and defeat at this point and help us defeat Dan once and for all, then I would tell him everything. There was no point in holding back any information about Dan anymore because really it was all pretty much in the open now. I couldn't make anyone forget what he told them even if I wanted to. I even decided to mention a certain notebook to Vlad that was still currently hidden in my bedroom that already had most of this written down in my own words and not Dan's...

"Hey Vlad, this is going to sound extremely stupid, but just so you know I DID write this all down at one point. About Dan I mean. I was afraid that Jazz, Sam, or Tucker might find out more about him than I was willing to share if I made a ghost file about him and kept any of that information on my laptop so I wrote everything I knew about him down in a small notebook I kept hidden in the frame of my bed instead. I figured it was the one place no one would ever think to look for ghost-related stuff. Especially since monsters under the bed isn't exactly the same as the room being haunted by a ghost, right?" I laughed hoarsely, but sadly it came out as a cough and I had to pause to catch my breath.

"Are you sure you can handle this Daniel?" Vlad asked worriedly, his tone mild and thankfully not patronizingly concerned which would have annoyed me to no end like it does when my sister gets overprotective.

I nodded, grimacing slightly as I pulled my hand away from my face only to notice that my white glove was covered with fresh droplets of ectoplasmic blood, but for now, I ignored his question and kept going since there was no telling how much time we had left to compare notes before Dan showed up again. "It doesn't matter what I can or can't handle. We need to end this. Besides, Dan's not stupid, he probably wants to force me to give up my ghost half willingly like I did last time when I begged you to strip away my humanity and you separated my human and ghost halves using the Ghost Gauntlets in the other timeline."

"The what?" Vlad asked quizzically.

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know about them in this timeline either would you? Well, you see they're these creepy clawed gauntlets you invented that look like the ones my dad beat you up with one time but these have claws on them. I don't know exactly when you made them in the other timeline, but you used them to try and remove my humanity. Unfortunately, something went horribly wrong and that's how Dan was created when my emotionally unstable ghost half got super pissed off and tried to overshadow your ghost-half after ripping it out too. And well, you know what they say about how misery loves company. He just didn't want human company anymore," I laughed sheepishly, but it came out as another cough so Vlad shot another concerned glance at me after that.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," I said waving his concern away dismissively. "Anyways, after your ghost half and mine merged together the rest is history, or his at any rate in the other timeline. I just find it kind of weirdly ironic that I can tell you this now while we're actually fighting the guy. Life or death situations make you realize stuff at the weirdest times, huh Vlad?"

A cautious smile crept across his face as he surveyed our surroundings and nodded, "Indeed. Let's just hope there is less death and more lif-!?"

Suddenly I was pulled sharply to the side to avoid the energy blast as a column of radiant green energy gouged itself into the ground before us and Vlad briefly struggled to keep us both upright. A hole the size of a bowling ball remained in its wake once the dust settled and I stared at it in disbelief. _I can't even see the bottom_. _That could have been us! If that was supposed to be a warning shot, I'm not looking forward to a real one..._

After that Dan's all too familiar visage materialized before us a few seconds later.

"Oh trust me, Vlad," he said with a mocking tone, thick with malice, after hearing the last bit of our conversation. "There will be plenty of death once I'm done with you two! This whole planet deserves it for the pain it has inflicted upon me. I'm feeling generous though since that WAS a pretty interesting plot twist when you managed to get good old Danny-boy back on your side and actually caught me by surprise with that last attack. I thought I planned for that so well played! Turns out you're not as rusty as I thought you were, old man. So, I'm going to offer you two one last chance to avoid more needless suffering before I start tearing you apart quite literally."

"To join you?" I interrupted quickly, my eyes briefly flashing a brighter green, "Forget it! We'd rather die fighting than let you worm your way back into the world!"

"Oh I know this is likely going to come to blows regardless of what I say," Dan said calmly as he flashed me a quick, pointed grin, "In your state though, Danny, you can't possibly hope to win this fight. Look at you-" he looked me over with an appraising glance and laughed cruelly, "-you're barely standing as it is! Or floating I suppose if you want to be more literal. Without Vlad, I'm fairly certain even a strong gust of wind would easily knock you over. You can't win. Neither of you can. So why bother trying? This world is filled with nothing but disappointment and suffering but you can end it by joining me."

"That's why I'm here," Vlad interrupted, putting himself between me and Dan. "Seeing as you can't exist without him dying under certain parameters, that leaves you wide open for MY attacks. You can't afford to go all out against him without risking his death happening prematurely, robbing you of what you need from your younger self. So I'm afraid we're going to have to call your bluff."

Shrugging, Dan huffed, "Oh well, it was worth a shot. Speaking of which-"

In a series of smooth motions, Dan flicked his wrist up and out towards us with an extended arm. Unleashing a brilliant column of green ecto-energy, Vlad had only a moment to react as he brought his ghostly barricade up to shield us from the attack speeding down. Refusing to be forced on the defensive, Vlad dropped the shield after the attack concluded and responded with a ghost ray of his own. Focusing it over Dan's form he tried to gain his own advantage by keeping him where he was. This was Dan though, and it didn't take him long to counter this by focusing energy into the hand he was blocking with.

"I was thinking before this all started-" Dan mused, "-that I'd love to find out which one of us is really stronger. Let's find out!"

The pink of Vlad's ray was challenged by Dan's green as it fought its way to the middle of where the two of them were positioned sort of like that scene in Harry Potter when Harry and Voldemort were dueling with their wands. "That's quite unexpected! Are we evenly matched, Plasmius?" Dan asked him, his tone dripping with condescension. "For your sake, I hope you are!"

Dan cackled loudly as a smug smile quickly crept across his face. His pointed teeth glinted dangerously as a burst of green light enveloped him as more energy flowed from Dan from some kind of hidden reserve, reinforcing his offensive and pushing Vlad's attack to the brink of ruin. Vlad saved our hides seemingly reflexively, he brought both hands together to strengthen his ray, which stopped the attack before it reached us; driving him back a few inches.

"Daniel," Vlad said, turning his head slightly towards me, "I can't hold this, and I can tell he's toying with me. So I'm going to drop the attack and teleport away. You need to run. Now! Don't worry, I'll be teleporting to you the moment you're safely out of range."  
I quickly nodded and flew, rather unsteadily I might add, away from there as fast as I could. While I was still pretty fast, I cursed how exhausted I was especially when I needed to be fighting the most! I must've been going faster than I thought, cause a second later I felt a hand on my shoulder suddenly and swiveled, expecting Dan, but saw Vlad instead and heaved a sigh of relief. That feeling was short-lived though when a loud _KABOOM_ shook the air after another one of Dan's attack went off; we turned to see what had happened and the buildings that were there before were completely gone now and a large scar on the land marked where they once stood...

"I'm glad we seem to be on the outskirts of town now, there shouldn't be as many people here who might get hurt; but either way Amity has seen better days. This place is a total wreck," I pointed wearily, still feeling guilty things have gotten this bad because of me. "We need to end this before he causes any more damage! Otherwise, this place is going to be wiped off the map!"

"I understand your concern little badger but stay focused. He's coming," Vlad warned, his gaze hard as we sensed Dan getting closer.

Ever the one for theatrics, Dan emerged from the smoke of his own attack with the sound of slow clapping accompanying him. "Nicely done, cheesehead. Nicely. Done. Who would've thought those old bones had that much power?"

"I'm only 42..." Vlad responded indignantly with a hint of annoyance despite the seriousness of our current situation.

"Really?" Dan replied with perhaps a little genuine confusion in his voice, "Ah, I keep forgetting because you look like a shriveled old hermit in my timeline who seems like he's already a corpse. Still, you did well. So let me give you another round of applause!" Dan threw his hands up and gave a slow series of claps. And another. And another. A big toothy grin crept across his face all the while, and I couldn't help but feel like we were being mocked.

"I've had enough of this!" I blurted out angrily, "If the last thing I do before I die or pass out is put a stop to your arrogant gloating, I'll be at least happy in that!"

"Daniel..." Vlad said warily, "Don't-"

"NO, Vlad! I've had enough of this," I quickly shut down further protests by rushing over to Dan. Or tried to, I flew a few inches closer...only to realize I was stuck in place and couldn't move! Vlad too, I heard him grunt before he realized he was finding it hard to move much more himself. What the heck was going on?!

Meanwhile, Dan was over there, a big toothy grin plastered on his face, clapping. And each time he clapped, I felt a bit more pressure push against me. Dan was...projecting the force he was generating outwards against us. The moment we caught on to this, he responded by quickening his timing like one would a metronome, and the barrage of pressure quickly intensified...

 _He didn't do this last time, this attack. It's new!_ That thought dawned on me with horror, and with it, my strength failed as I dropped out of the sky, barely able to pull myself up even slightly before I sprawled out on the ground face first.

"DANIEL!" I heard Vlad cry out, but all I could do was look up at Dan from my current position.

And the moment I went down he nodded to himself and brought his gaze firmly on Vlad, reared back his arms, and I could see how his hands were glowing with a strong green energy; and brought his hands crashing into each other. Seconds later a deafening boom shook the air like the sound of a loud explosion followed, then from the collision of his hands I saw strong, firm, soundwaves project forth. They whipped past me and hit their target. Vlad screamed in agony behind me, and I won't lie but I was almost glad I couldn't move thanks to a combination of Dan's new move and exhaustion setting in because I didn't want to see what was happening since I couldn't do anything to stop it. Not yet anyway, I needed to think of something, anything to help before I blacked out for real.

"I hope you like it, Vlad, Danny," Dan said, sending another loud clap in Vlad's direction, making the air vibrate painfully from the sheer force of it, "I call it the _'Phantom Applause.'_ I based it off of our Ghostly Wail, Danny. It doesn't last as long as the wail does, but it packs quite the punch all the same. I can also control how precise it is, meaning it could have hit you both, not just Vladdy over there. And it uses less energy, not that is a concern of mine, but I'll take any advantage I can get. I had a lot of time to brood and think in that stinkin' thermos our dear parents made, Danny..."

Another applause went out, and I could hear Vlad drop to the ground howling in agony as it struck but Dan continued talking anyway. "Eight months to be precise, as I cursed my misfortune of losing to you and plotted my revenge once I was free. And I had plenty of time to think and reflect in that dark lonely place. Not in the way most of you pitiful humans reflect, but oh...let's say I learned some things from my _'past'_ mistakes. This being one of them. The other being letting the old fruitloop escape with his life, a mistake I won't be repeating either. And I'm going to enjoy making you suffer every agonizing second before I mercifully end it," Dan cackled as he trapped Vlad in yet another attack.

It gave me whiplash realizing just how quickly our luck soured. This felt like a waking nightmare, one I had gone through several times in the weeks following the first time I fought Dan. This was no nightmare, and even if I had the strength to pinch myself, I already knew I was wide awake. It was oddly easy to forget how strong Dan was, and it sounds like he made good use of his free time.

I tried to be just as productive. The time I spent fighting ghosts. Then the months I spent training with Vlad. It worked. It paid off! I got stronger so I could protect those closest to me, which now meant Vlad. Who was being subdued by this jerk that was acting like that psychopath who enjoyed ripping the wings off of butterflies. I wanted to save him like he saved me.

I couldn't help but feel like I was failing him. And once Vlad was finished and Dan somehow extracted our ghost halves from us, I'd be failing everyone else...Jazz, Valerie, Tucker, Sam, and yes, even my mom and dad. Despite what they had done, the thought of this monster making them suffer before they died put knots in my stomach and filled me with a burning, defiant anger! So much so I didn't realize I was pushing myself up out of fighting instinct until I was struggling to get to my feet out of pure fighting instinct...

"Had enough, Vlad?" Dan mocked as he slowly made his way over to where he had fallen onto the ground not far from me. "The way you're clenching your head tells me you have a splitting headache. Tell me, does it hurt?"

I could see Vlad wince as he slowly opened his eyes and let air escape his mouth in what sounded like a hiss of anger. "Can't even speak. Such a shame, but I'm gonna make this WORSE BEFORE I MAKE IT BETTER!"

Dan reared his arms back in preparation for his attack, but stopped suddenly and turned his gaze towards me when he noticed I was on my feet again. I took some small pleasure in seeing his eyes widen for a brief moment of shock before he caught himself and called my name with a tone of honest disbelief in his voice, "Danny."

"Dan..." I wearily responded, but I'm sure my glare was stronger than my voice was.

"I won't lie, I'm kind of shocked you're up and about. I could have sworn you'd have passed out by now," his full attention was on me, forgetting his fallen prey Dan turned and took a couple of steps in my direction. "I'm not stupid enough to think you'll surrender now, but I hope you aren't planning on fighting me in the pathetic state you're in now."

"I am," I stated coldly without the slightest hint of hesitation.

After hearing my bold response Dan roared in laughter, "Fight me? HOW? What, are you gonna fall on me? Do you even know how you're gonna do it?"

"As a matter of fact, I do you loudmouth! This is for Vlad, my friends, my family, and the whole world that I promised to protect from YOUR FUTURE!" I jabbed a finger at him with the last remark and dug my feet in, preparing myself for what I was about to do next.

Then I took a deep breath and gathered what energy I could. It was only then that Dan realized what I was about to attempt and scoffed, "This is hardly the time for your feeble attempts to bluff. You can't fire a bolt of ecto-energy at me let alone unleash the power of a wail, not in your condition. You're wasting both our time with this charade and I-!?"

Seconds later, my sharp, piercing notes interjected and drowned out any response Dan tried to make. I had to settle for a brief wail because I really was on my last leg so I knew I had to make this last-minute attack count. It had plenty of punch in the start, but it quickly petered out sadly. It did the intended job though as it picked him up and flung him away from us and straight into one of the last standing buildings on the outskirts of town.

 _If every building that has been destroyed today comes back as a ghost, I'm gonna be screwed in the near future...If I have one._ Laughing nervously to myself while shrugging that odd thought aside, I located where Vlad was laying on the ground, took two shallow steps...and collapsed on the spot. My thoughts, my vision, all of it rapidly began drifting away and giving way to oblivion before I could comprehend anything else.

* * *

My eyes flung open as I felt something brush up against my face. It was fabric. Then I saw an ocean of red and white before me and felt a pair of familiar black-gloved hands shaking me until I fully came to. "Oh thank god you're awake, little badger," Vlad said with relief etched across his pale-blue face. "I saw that attack hit Dan and was worried you pushed yourself too far this time when you suddenly fell over."

I tried to pick myself up, but my body wasn't having it. It felt like I weighed half-a-ton now. "Easy," Vlad cautioned, "You aren't in any shape to move or fight now. You weren't out for very long either so it isn't as though you managed to get a power nap in that short amount of time."

I groaned and gave a short cough, my body was sore and my lungs felt like they were on fire from the wail, however brief it was, but I warned him anyway, "I feel like Dan should have shown himself again already, that attack wasn't as potent as it would normally be. I...wonder what's taking him?" I said, coughing again.

Vlad went silent for a moment as he pondered this before he eventually replied, "I think you caught him off-guard again when you found the strength to attack him like that even with a weaker version of your most powerful attack, so he might be recollecting himself at this very moment. That's not important though. I'm taking over this fight. You've done all you can so leave the rest to me, little badger."

"W-what? No!" I protested, reaching up and grabbing a fistful of his cape, "I appreciate the concern, Vlad, I do, but I have to finish this I-"

"Have to sit this out," Vlad rationalized, arguing, "His _Phantom Applause_ rattled me, but I can still fight. You can't. You can't even move, and if you try to fight again now you will either die from the exertion alone, which I don't want, or you'll be offering yourself to him on a silver platter. I can't protect you if you are fighting alongside me right now, but if I draw his attention I can keep him away from you...I can figure something out."

Nodding to himself Vlad looked me in the eye again and said, "This what I'm supposed to do as your guardian. Legally bound or not, I'm here to look out for you from now on and shoulder the burdens when you need help or when they become too much for you. Daniel, I-" he gazed at me, pleading with his eyes as he finished saying, "-the fact is, I CAN still do this. You can't. You should know that from our fights alone...that I'm the most capable of protecting you when times get tough."

He gave me a quick, wry smile as he said that and asked, "Allow me to fight for you now as a way to make up as well for all the times I should have been by your side when the situation looked bleak and the only person you had to rely on was yourself. I was no mentor, I let my ego and pride blind me and didn't bother learning the most important lesson of all. Because how could I expect you to trust me when all I've done is stand against you while claiming that I wanted you to become my pupil or the son I never had? I pushed you away but none of that matters anymore. We're both here now, together, fighting against a common enemy so allow me to shoulder this burden for you like I should have long ago instead of being your enemy!"

I don't know if my body was getting weaker as I fought to stay conscious, or if the reality of what Vlad said and the offer he was presenting sank in, but I could feel my desire to fight fading from my mind. The fact that Vlad's face was blurring in my vision also didn't help, but it made making my mind up easy so I muttered, "As much as I tried to fight it, I guess this was never my fight to finish alone after all..."

 _Clockwork knew that from the beginning. That's why he warned me that I would only make things harder for both of us by not relying on you more. Ugh, my eyelids are so heavy. But I need to say this in case I don't get another chance._ After that, I let my hand fall from his shoulder after letting go of his cape, which was kind of like a symbolic gesture of letting go of my stubborn pride too, and smirked, "He's all yours, fruitloop. Show him what you're made of, and don't hold back..."


	74. The Test Of Time

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (12/23/2019):** Happy Holidays everyone! And thank you so much for your awesome reviews, it made me so happy to hear your thoughts and that you're still eager to see how this story ends! And I also want to take a moment to thank all of you for your support and patience. This has been a long journey, but we're finally nearing the end and this is my moment of truth too just like it is for Vlad. I've worked on some challenging stories but this has by far been the most challenging mostly due to real-life drama and personal hardships causing major delays. At the same time, however, writing this was a great way for me to vent and focus on a project to distract myself from all of that and I did my best to make sure it was a gripping tale. I hope the sequel will be just as successful! Anyways, after this, the last two chapters should be much easier to write so don't forget to stick around to see what will happen next!

* * *

Chapter 73: The Test Of Time

* * *

" _Scars are but evidence of life," Coquette said. "Evidence of choices to be learned from...evidence of wounds...wounds inflicted of mistakes...wounds we choose to allow the healing of. We likewise choose to see them, that we may not make the same mistakes again."_ **~ Marcia Lynn McClure, The Whispered Kiss**

* * *

Vlad's POV

I cannot even begin to describe the feeling that bloomed in my chest when Daniel uttered those words of encouragement to me. This was undeniable proof that he believed in me and was entrusting me with the task of bringing Dan's existence to an end. This was the moment of truth for both of us...

He still didn't want anything bad to happen to me at the hands of this monster, but even so Daniel was leaving his fate entirely in my hands. And that meant disposing of the being who embodied all of the anger, resentment, vanity, and arrogance that has been festering in the darkest corners of our hearts for so long, especially mine since it was my ghost half that corrupted Daniel's, was all that mattered now. Ending him was my top priority.

At any rate, I will be the first to admit that Dan's attack caught me off guard, but thankfully there was more than enough ambient ectoplasmic energy lingering in the area to help me recover. With this, along with everything else Daniel managed to tell me about Dan's tactics, I felt I was better prepared to put an end to this. But I needed to move Daniel to somewhere safe first. Normally, I would have left Daniel in Jasmine's care since she was one of the few people left in his life that I trusted. However, since she was currently detained in Casper High which as of right now had the strongest ghost shield in town apart from the ones at Axion Labs and Fenton Works that wasn't an option.

Besides which, trying to find her would be even more difficult given that a lot of people were probably taking refuge there since they had nowhere else to go to escape the chaos that was equipped with a shield. Off the top of my head I knew of a few major buildings in the area that had one installed but sadly, those were smaller weaker shields that were only designed to repel your average everyday ghosts. It was never my intention to waste resources giving them anything more powerful than that so there was no way these weaker shields would be able to protect anyone, let alone themselves, from Dan's Ghostly Wail or his Phantom Applause as he calls it...

At any rate, there wasn't much time left before Dan returned so I needed to take Daniel somewhere safe that was still close by just in case I had no choice but to retreat and leave this place to its fate to ensure our survival. Of course, I detested the idea of running away like a coward since I wanted to end this once and for all, but Daniel's safety came first above all else.

Protecting him would always come first.

I know Daniel may never forgive me for prioritizing his life over everyone else's, but if what even half he said about what Dan did to the world in his timeline is true, then we were all that stood between him and both halves of this world being utterly destroyed. And now that Daniel was down for the count, if I didn't take care of Dan myself, if I didn't end this now, there would be nowhere left for us to run where Dan would not follow and seek our demise. He knew Daniel and I too well so neither of us would be able to escape his clutches so easily.

Returning my attention to the matter at hand, I could only hope there was enough time to take Daniel someplace where he would well out of harm's way while I finished this. And so, after deciding on a decent location and making sure Daniel was as comfortable as humanly possible there given the circumstances, I mentally went over what I've seen so far of Dan's fighting style and abilities and teleported several times to confuse Dan just in case so he wouldn't be able to discover where I left Daniel. I couldn't risk him trying to use the boy as leverage even though I knew for a fact he couldn't dare threaten to kill him or hurt him too badly just yet because the two of them were still connected and there was a small chance of that damage carrying over to him and crippling Dan as well.

Either way, from what I've seen it looks as though Dan seemed to favor taunting his enemies when he could to throw them off their game and make them attack him blindly which made it easier for them to make fatal mistakes during battle. But those muscles also told me Dan was fond of being a bruiser as well. He was clearly someone who would gladly toss himself into the middle of a fight where he could deal the most damage and would gladly snap someone's bones like twigs just to hear them scream.

Daniel told me all of this already, but seeing Dan for myself only confirmed it. My little badger studied his opponent well! Despite the dire situation I couldn't help but feel proud of Daniel for remembering so much about his opponent. He had several openings though, openings I could exploit if it weren't for Dan's speed advantage. Unless I stunned him, getting out wouldn't be likely. Now if he attacked me, I could at least block for a short while. His style was his own, but I saw motions and movements in it that were based on Daniel's and my own style so there was some predictability there, something I could read, but it wasn't much. And if it came down to a good old fashioned slugfest; I'd just have to make it work somehow.

 _It's all up to me now,_ This thought reverberated in my mind with an increasing fervor as I simultaneously began drawing in as much ambient ecto-energy from around me as I possibly could. I would need every ounce of it to take him on. Still, there was only so much planning I could do to end this quickly so I could properly tend to Daniel's wounds. But either way, no matter what he would survive this...

I would make sure of it.

* * *

The silence became almost oppressive as it dragged on, the air unnaturally still like the world was holding onto a deep bated breath, waiting to see how this would end. Even I could not predict the end, although I was confident I had the power to end this on my terms rather than Dan's. Some time passed before a heavy sigh escaped my lips and I turned around, strolling over into the middle of the ruined, empty city block to meet Dan when I felt rather than saw him actually approach and said with a rehearsed detachment, "Alright, let's get this over with."

"Did you enjoy your little break, Vlad?" Dan replied coolly, "It's the last peaceful respite you'll ever know. Once I dash you against the cruel rocks of fate, within an inch of your miserable life, I'm going to rip your ghost half out personally which isn't going to be pleasent I assure you. And then once I'm done with you I'll find Danny, take what's mine, and create myself anew with even greater power! And you honestly think you can challenge that? How amusing," Dan dropped his gaze and seemed to be chewing on that thought.

A false opening, but I wouldn't be baited so easily...

His smile came back when he realized I noticed this too and said, "Well no matter, I've dwelt on the past and entertained you pathetic relics for long enough. Like I said, I hope you enjoyed your break old man, because there's nothing you can do to stop me now. I am inevitable! You and Danny can struggle all you want to the bitter end but ultimately you WILL surrender, die, and this whole world will bow to my will because it is my destiny to bring it to its knees! So let's start with you."

With his declaration for Daniel and the rest of the world, I decided it was time to use the duplicate I made earlier to create an opening. It appeared into view next to him, and Dan swatted at it in surprise. Perfect. I teleported up to him, and mustered all the strength I could and sent a fist square into his jaw, dropping him to the ground where he stood. I unleashed a flurry of punches into his stomach to keep him locked down and stunned, but I must have gotten caught up in having the upper hand on him for once because before I could react I felt his knee collide with me; knocking me away and onto my side.

I heard the ground crunch beneath his feet as Dan strolled over to me and rolled me onto my back. Then Dan grabbed a fistful of my hair and raised me to eye level with him and chided, "Not nearly good enough."

So I attempted to do better and fired an ecto-bolt point-blank at him, but my eyes widened as I saw it splash over him harmlessly. Dan looked amused, "Still not good enough," was all he said before he grabbed my face with his other hand and drove me into the concrete.

I felt the unnatural coolness of ectoplasmic blood flow down my cheek as the concrete and cold dirt gave way beneath me time and time again. The pain was immense, but Dan wouldn't relent long enough for me to fight against it so I had to endure each blow even when it felt when I was on the verge of blacking out to escape the agony. And when he eventually stopped Dan just chuckled and said, "Poor Vlad, I always knew you'd end up in a ditch of your own creation. I just didn't know it would be me who would get to do the honors."

As Dan bent down close to me, an orb of ecto-energy was given life and brought against my chest and I knew he was far from done with me as he laughed, "Don't worry, this will almost kill you, but not quite. You see, you have to be close to death for me to be able to extract your ghost half from you without the...proper tools like last time. Taking Danny's will be easy, but you still need some tenderizing."

Dan licked his lips mockingly, "I always did like my meat bloody after all. And I can't wait to say good riddance to you forever this time, you pitiful old fool!"  
While he was busy gloating I tried to wrack my brain for an idea, tried to focus on surviving, but the splitting headache I had now made it hard to focus on much of anything. Soon after, a weird kind of apathy washed over me, a detachment from my fate. I guess this is the acceptance they speak of before you die. Except as I fixated on the ball of energy, nothing happened...then to my surprise, Dan gasped suddenly, grabbed his head after dropping me, and fell backward muttering to himself.

Confused by this strange development I strained to listen as he hissed in denial, "No no no nooo! Not now. I'm so close!"

His orb faded away, as I pondered his sudden cessation and the answer to my unspoken question wasn't long off as chimes filled the air from a mysterious source, followed by ticking, and then a gong from what sounded like a grandfather signaling a new hour. Dan sprang upright, sharply sucked in another lungful of air, and raised his arms in a defiant gesture, like he was preparing to unleash his Ghostly Wail against some mighty force.

Before he could, however, Dan exploded into a brilliant column of green light and his form started withering before my eyes. And when the display was over he sank to his knees, trembling. His muscles were shriveled, and his face looked quite gaunt like he was malnourished and could barely function. Seeing this, I felt some sense return to me as soon as I realized that now I had a fighting chance to land a killing blow on him, but as I tried to force myself out of the ditch, my body faltered and fell back down and I cursed under my breath.

"I miscalculated my time. My odds. Many things, clearly," Dan murmured but his voice was weak, like a man deprived of water and even talking was a strain on him, "I detest using this technique I learned in that deplorable thermos," his ghoulish eyes locked on me, "But at least I'll garner some pleasure seeing your expression as you struggle to escape your demise."

I felt my mind clear more as I slowly pushed myself up and thought, _I suspect the pummeling he doled out on me left me with a concussion. Great, a handicap. I'll have to deal with it later if there is one...so it's now or never Vladimir._

Before I could do anything I felt power surge during my efforts to reorient myself, and an eye instinctively trained itself on Dan. It wasn't much power, but I could feel the air crackle around him. Dan was still kneeling, his fists were balled as he focused with great effort as a weak green outline traced his figure. As he did so, I could feel his power ebb and grow like a gathering storm. It came in rapidly like waves, getting bigger and more savage by the passing second. His muscles were also regaining their former luster as Dan filled back out and as I stood over him, stunned, he stood too; radiant and resplendent. His green outline boasted strength and permanence now.

"How-" I started to inquire, but words faltered as he picked himself up.

"Hmm?" Dan began nonchalantly, "Oh, you mean this? It's simple, I overcharged my core by funneling what energy I had into places of power within my body! Basically, I overclocked myself. I may have hated the thermos, but it did teach me how to hone my own energy better at least."

Dan sauntered over what few steps were between us, his eyes spoke of some idea he had and I readied myself as best as I could. Which was more than I anticipated, my head was almost clear now, and I prayed my mind and body could move in tandem.

 _Jab_. I responded with a sidestep.

 _Jab._ Parry and a riposte, but he displayed quick timing too with a block.

 _Jab! Left, right, left. Leg sweep, block, ecto-bolt._ I parried and blocked the initial set, I saw the sweep coming miles away and lunged at him with a vertical spin-kick that he caught with a palm and quickly responded by lobbing a bolt that I failed to counter and was sent flying backward. I oriented myself with a hand and landed on my feet, skidding to a stop.

 _That lacked the punch I was expecting. Are you testing me?_ I wondered, searching for an answer during the next clash, he moved slower, his punches lacked the savage strength, and his reactions didn't seem to come so innately now.

I was connecting more now, but it didn't prove much. We quickly disengaged, and I put a test into play. I made a visible duplicate and set it on the sidelines. Doing nothing. Dan looked between myself and the duplicate, trying to figure my game out. In a mocking manner, I casually strolled up to him and put both hands up in a battle stance. _He won't turn down a strength test._

His smile said it all and our hands entangled and we pit our might against the other. Surprisingly, I faired well for the first few seconds. Unsurprisingly, he started to gradually overpower me. Daniel has rightly accused me of fighting dirty, so it shouldn't have shocked Dan when I zapped him with my ghost stinger, but I took some quick delight in his look of bewilderment before I untangled from the test and backhanded him. Normally I'd avoid angering such a dangerous ghost, but my test was working out well. So I had my duplicate teleport in and together it and I sent a constant barrage of attacks in his direction.

Meanwhile, Dan's amusement was gone, replaced by rabid anger and irritation as he did his best to focus on his defense. We broke through, and in the ensuing barrage I brought, I quickly had my duplicate back off and hide. Which turned out to be a smart move when he brushed off my next attack and responded with a sweeping attack that staggered me and may have destroyed my duplicate. This settled it however, Dan was only slightly stronger and faster than I currently was, and this made it all too clear to him as well. I wouldn't dare underestimate him now however, so I ran off towards the town where some buildings were left standing and made a plan as he followed me.

Before long I stopped in the middle of an intersection and quickly began formulating my next attack, _Five buildings? Perfect. I'll need to be careful about how I do this but I can use this to my advantage._

After that, I moved my first pawn into place, waited, and braced myself for his arrival. As I did so, I heard a loud popping sound, the kind you'd hear after an aircraft went supersonic. Realization dawned on me, and I quickly put a barrier between myself and Dan's Phantom Applause. The attack broke against my defense, but it left cracks in the barrier, cracks I'd have to work with as I moved the barrier in the direction of the next Applause.

I didn't wait for it to connect, I teleported myself to the top of the nearest building and flew straight towards Dan who was on the far end of the street. Dan was quick to take the initiative, and I deftly dodged some ecto-bolts before rocketing a fist into his jaw. The hit was solid, and Dan briefly bowed back like a tree in the wind, but he braced and reclaimed his towering stature through sheer might. As he did this, I could have attacked, but I wanted to see how well he'd notice a subtle energy signature appearing mid-battle.

So I made another pawn and carefully positioned it. Nothing! He proved something I already knew, that he was stronger after overcharging his core, but I proved I could make subtle moves without him knowing. It was time to set the trap...

I quickly teleported away within his view, and exclaimed with a gesture from both of my hands, "I think it's time I put those reflexes to the real test, monster. Let's see how you handle this," as two constructs radiating with ecto-energy blurred into view.

On my left, atop an emplacement, sat long, slender barrels that roared to life and barraged Dan with ecto-energy bullets. He just yawned and shielded himself with a barrier. I guess it was too much to hope he wouldn't expect me to create guns out of ecto-energy as it wasn't part of my usual fighting style. To make up for it I teleported directly up to him and attempted to deliver a knee to his face, but it went into his spare hand and I inwardly snarled, _I need to get more creative, he read that like an open book! I can't make the same mistake as Daniel did or I'm dead._

"Oh, I'm sorry. You were trying to do this I take it?" Paying no heed to the construct, Dan spun like a top and his own knee crashed into my chest, sending me to the ground with a slight bounce. I rolled over and found myself vomiting up some ectoplasmic blood. The first construct whirred to a stop as I found it too hard to focus my energy on retaining its form while I wretched. If I survived this battle I was positive I would have several internal injuries that would need immediate medical attention.

"That's right, Vlad. Let it out. Let it _all_ out," He kneeled down and propped my head up, "Bleed that precious life force out. It'll all be over soon, for you and for Danny."

"That's what you think, now!" I shouted aloud, my eyes flashing.

"What now?" Dan blurted out as a single shot rang out from the second construct he neglected to notice, loud and strong. And I was pleased to see a long gash had opened on Dan's left cheek and oozed a bright toxic green, a sign that I'd finally caught him off guard.

 _Three, two more._ An explosion erupted next to us from where Dan sent an ecto-bolt, never taking his eyes from me.

"That wasn't very nice," Dan said flatly with a plastered-on smile, "You left your toys out, but don't worry, I'll put them away before they hurt anyone else. You're awfully cranky today Vladdy, I think you need a nap!" An arm wrapped itself around my neck, and with a jerking motion, he picked me off the ground.

At first, I thought he was trying to knock me out, but as the pressure grew I realized Dan was instead trying to snap my neck, probably figuring it would be quicker for whatever he had planned. _I'm not letting that happen! Five._ With a mental command as I counted how many duplicates I had placed thus far, I went from being in the throngs of the enemy, to atop a building nearby overlooking where Dan was.

I resisted the urge to cough which would have given away my position and slowly sucked in air through my nose as I watched Dan strangle a duplicate I made, feeling echoes of its pain since it was an extension of myself. My throat felt like it was on fire as I rubbed the tender flesh and frowned, _I never showed anyone this trick, not even Daniel, so it should be new to you as well. Now to get close enough in a way where you can't resist my Shatter Dome. One way or another, this ends now!_

I decided to act quick so the duplicate Dan was wrangling wouldn't need to be recreated. It was an extra I hadn't planned to create since I needed the energy for my next big attack but losing one was ok for the sake of making the right opening though. Standing tall, once I reoriented myself I took aim from atop the building. Green energy spun in my hand for a moment before I pressed my mental trigger, sending the bolt spearing off and out. It burnt the back of his uniform and singed his back somewhat when it connected. Dan growled in anger and what sounded like surprise as he abandoned the duplicate at this new development and whirled around to face me. When he did, I mentally told the duplicate he released to hide somewhere new and close by since I managed to save it before it was completely destroyed.

"What? Vlad? I was just...What is this?" Dan demanded, sounding like an irritated child who felt cheated out of winning.

"Oh, I bet you'd KILL to know," I replied mockingly, my voice a little hoarse.

Dan paused for a moment then scoffed as he muttered to himself, "Duplicates. Of course. I should have known, but when did he have time to place those? Why didn't I feel the new ghost signature?"

"So much for your so-called changes in the future. The way I see it you're still so much like Daniel, in the heat of battle you lose your cool when under pressure, or when you get over-confident. And you're definitely still prone to the latt-" wind pressed against my face, his hulking form cast where I stood in shadow and a titan of a fist sprang forth to greet me. But with another telepathic command, I was off again where the last duplicate relocated then it took the full brunt of the hit instead of me and disappeared in a puff of smoke.

 _A shame, I could've used it better, but the other duplicates are too close together and I can't let them be seen,_ I thought as I pelted him with a couple more shots to grab his attention.

He turned, teeth clench, eyes wide with irritation as I continued to goad him, "Actually, let me rephrase that. When your opponent seems to be more tha-" His speed certainly was impressive as my words were cut off and I whisked myself back towards the cluster of buildings using the same trick.

This duplicate was simply knocked to the ground and ignoring it for the time being, I continued loudly from my new location, "-than you expected, you lose your cool. During those ten years you wreaked havoc in the world you never had an honest fight with anyone aside from my little badger I presume. You simply destroyed every enemy with brute force and no finesse whatsoever! How typical...and yet you still claim to be his _'better half?'_ "

"HOW are you doing that?! Whatever it is, stop it and face your death like a man you sniveling coward!" Dan demanded, voice dripping with malice, "You NEVER did this before! And this is YOU, YOU have ALWAYS been a showoff! I assumed you were incapable of such subtlety because if anything you were the one who was quick to lose his temper!"

Sensing what was about to happen, I moved the positions one my duplicates and replied, "Actually, I've-"

Like clockwork, Dan blindly rushed towards where I was, and I switched spots with yet another duplicate once again to evade, "-never-"

I switched again, "-shown you-"

Another switch, my voice carrying a confident ring as I laughed mockingly, "-everything I knew!" And this last switch brought me into the middle of the intersection.

"LIES!" Dan snarled, his tone a mixture of being honestly bewildered and frothing mad, "I KNOW YOU VLAD! I KNOW YOU BETTER THAN ANYONE AND YOU WERE **ALWAYS** THE BIGGEST SHOW OFF OF THEM ALL! YOU WERE ALWAYS TRYING TO BRAG ABOUT HOW MUCH BETTER YOU WERE JUST SO I WOULD LEAVE MY IDIOT FATHER AND JOIN **YOU!** BUT YOU'RE NOTHING COMPARED TO ME, YOU HEAR ME?! NOTHING!"

He caught his breath, but Dan was clearly still frayed at the edges as he took a step back and glanced around, muttering to himself, "Why is he only using this new trick NOW? I can't even sense them even though I know they're there now. Just how long does this worm intend to struggle when he knows he can't win?!" He flew over to me, his form towering above me but I held my ground this time because I was exactly where I needed to be-

Meeting his burning gaze with my own I sneered, "It's simple, you petulant child. This is something you never did quite grasp about me. No matter how powerful I became I knew I would always need some sort of insurance in case I ever found myself in over my head, so I kept some tricks to myself for a rainy day. Tricks that I know how to use in many situations when the need arises. Only a fool thinks there's never going to be someone out there more powerful than you and doesn't prepare for that eventuality."

"Your Ghostly Wail and Phantom Applause are great surprises when your opponent doesn't know they're coming, but after that, they lose that effectiveness," I continued, my words cold and hard, "You may have our abilities, our combined strength, speed, endurance, and you even know how we think, to a degree. But in the end, however, you are STILL just a second-rate, half-baked, amateur who never learned how to use the other gifts aside from just that raw power properly. Daniel has amended this deficiency, adhered to change so he could learn and grow and think ahead, but you haven't. You've learned nothing aside from a few more cheap parlor tricks! And so you'll lose today because of your lack of foresight and understanding."

Dan gave a big empty chuckle, "That's RICH, coming from you. You want SKILL? You want to see my POWER? THEN STAY RIGHT WHERE YOU ARE AND SEE FOR YOURSELF HOW POWERFUL I REALLY AM BEFORE YOU DIE!"

As soon as he finished his rant Dan sucked in as much air as he could muster, but I didn't hesitate as I made my move first. The duplicates I made earlier and placed hit him with a cascade of ecto-bolts, the flurry of attacks pelting him at once which caused him to buckle briefly, but as soon as he recovered Dan unleashed his Wail upon the buildings behind him. The cacophony of pure sound obliterated everything before it, duplicate and building alike. I still had one left though, and right when his last attack finished he telegraphed his next attack with a wide arc to his swing.

 _Sloppy, but I'll play along,_ I feigned surprise as his fist bore down upon me, his face was ripe with satisfaction as it connected before...POOF! I teleported behind him and sent Dan to the ground, pouring a lot of my remaining energy into this next part as I trapped him in a special energy dome. Dan sat up and instantly tried smashing it with his fists, blasting it apart with his energy attacks, and I even saw him use his _Ghostly Wail_ on it to no avail.

This was my strongest shield which was made almost more like an energy construct that reinforced it yet it had an extra perk as well that he had obviously forgotten all about. And for the first time since I saw him, Dan looked unsure, though still angry, but it was clear he was at a loss for words and had no easy answer for this. So I answered for him...

"Tricks", I said, breaking the silence.

"Huh, what're you-?" was all he could muster as Dan glared at me harshly, slightly breathless this time from using his Wail so intensely in rapid succession to decimate most of my duplicates in one blow.

"I had more than one trick I was saving," I explained, "This one is my _Shatter Dome_. The name might need work, but I trap my victim in a shield that recycles any energy that passes through it. Heck, if you were to try and phase through it it would spit you back out where you currently are. Unless you knew how to direct the flow, which I do. I only use this on those that prove to be my match. I'm surprised you forgot about this since it's part of an attack I used when we first met, or rather when I met MY DANIEL."

Narrowing my gaze at him I chuckled and mimicked how he'd spoken to me earlier, "Oh, and I know what you're thinking, _'Why haven't I used it before?'_ See, I needed to make sure you were thoroughly distracted for this to work, it needs a couple of seconds to charge. And if I used this on an opponent who was nice and calm, it wouldn't take them long to realize I was setting up something _special_. And I don't use this on just anyone. It's so...crude."

A crackling bolt of pink energy zapped into my hand, and I slowly fed the dome the bolt. Violent energy bounced and ricocheted within, Dan did his best to fight it, but the barrage of intense electrical energy overwhelmed him and he dropped to the ground writhing and twitching. Another bolt zapped into my hand, this one I fed the dome all at once. Like the crack of a whip, something snapped and popped, before the interior of the shell surged with a freakish amount of energy. It all fought to escape in a violent display of raw power before it subsided as quickly as it came.

Dan looked positively ragged after that, his uniform was heavily singed, arcs of electricity could be seen lashing across various parts of his body, and I could see some of his muscles twitch. The poor fool didn't even realize his own attempts to escape my dome only made it stronger. With every ounce of venom I could muster I told him, "Unlike the Vlad you knew, I try to avoid being the monster nowadays. For Daniel though? My little badger? I'll do anything. _ANYTHING_ , to make sure he's safe. Especially from the likes of you. Even if it means using a move that most certainly would have killed him during our many battles."

Something must've snapped inside Dan at those words because he rushed the edge of his prison and with a hiss said, "IF I'M A MONSTER THEN IT'S YOUR FAULT! I ONLY LEFT YOU ALIVE SO I COULD WATCH YOU SUFFER AS MUCH AS I WAS KNOWING YOU CAN'T SAVE ANYONE! JUST LIKE MY PARENTS YOU ONLY KNOW HOW TO BREAK THINGS! JUST LIKE HOW YOU BROKE ME AND MADE ME LIKE THIS! BUT THIS TIME I'M GOING TO BE THE ONE TO BREAK YOU AND EVERY BONE IN YOUR BODY UNTIL YOU-?!"

Angrily I fed two bolts to the dome, and the sound of coursing joules drowned out whatever else he was going to say. The dome lit up like a lightbulb, and when it was over, Dan laid on his side, folded up. And even though I wanted to I couldn't take joy in this, I would have rather bested him in a fair fight and made an example of him, but this wasn't about me anymore. I had someone I had to protect. And as I told him, nothing would stop me from doing that. So I repeated the process twice more for good measure...

After I confirmed Dan was truly beaten and that even he wasn't going to get up anytime soon after enduring that, I left the dome up, went to retrieve Daniel, and came back after a quick teleport. It was risky, but I wanted him to see his ultimate foe vanquished firsthand. And more importantly, I wanted to make sure what I was about to do next wouldn't harm Daniel through the fragment of Dan still inside of him.

I always planned ahead, but if I'm being completely honest I never thought that this is how I would choose to end the existence of this monster. I was about to end it all with where it began, in the form of an all-too-familiar weapon I pulled out from the back of my belt and aimed directly at Dan's core while I held Daniel securely with the other. And no, this time it was no mere construct. This was the very same weapon that nearly killed Daniel on that fateful day when I had the realization that I didn't want him to die, that I did care for him.

And from that moment on Daniel became a welcomed part of my life and was given my love and my full protection. Up until then I was alone, unloved, bitter, and yet bringing him into my life like this and genuinely helping my little badger filled a void in my heart I had grown accustomed to denying was there. I hated everything this gun represented, but if nothing else would prove to him how real my devotion as a father figure was, even if it meant using the weapon his father Jack made and nearly killed him with to save Daniel...surely this would.

I wasn't sure if he would have the energy to stay awake for long, but after calling his name Daniel blearily opened his eyes and turned to me, blinking in confusion before they fell on the gun in my other hand and he asked hoarsely, "Vlad...isn't-isn't that-?"

I nodded mutely without looking at him and asked, "It is. Daniel, we both know what this weapon can do and I honestly don't know what it will do to HIM or the part that's inside of you. However, in order to know if it's truly over...I have to kill him. Do you still trust me, little badger?"

"Yes," Daniel replied, mustering what little energy he had to glare at Dan who was trying to crawl to the edge of the dome.

After a few more moments of silence, Daniel closed his eyes and whispered, "Do what you have to, Vlad...for both our sakes."

Dropping the dome just enough to give me a clear shot at his core, I lifted the weapon a little higher and for the first time, I saw real fear in Dan's eyes as he wheezed, "D-do you really have what it takes to kill me, Vlad? You'll...you could end up killing your precious Danny too or hurting him beyond repair by your own hand! Can y-you really live with that?!"

My finger tightening on the trigger, I answered coldly, "Yes, I can actually, and you want to know why? Do you want to know what makes this choice so easy to make?" I could tell he already knew the answer, but I decided to say it anyway as I glared down at him and said indifferently, "It's because you are NOT my little badger."

And with that, I pulled the trigger-

For a moment, it seemed like time had ground to a halt as Dan stared at the barrel of the ecto-inhibitor gun I just shot him with. A silent scream tore from his throat as the pain of the ectoenergy from his overcharged core attacking him began destroying Dan from the inside. I briefly glanced over at Daniel when his back arched the instant he felt an echo of it too. But then there was a flash of red and whatever fragment was in him before dissipated into a fine red mist and the shock merely rendered him unconscious once again. Dan, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky; the immense agony on his face was clear as he clawed at his chest and thrashed on the ground, his eyes glowing solid red as he blindly searched for a way to escape it.

Up until now, I felt no such connection with Dan even though he held part of me within him too until suddenly there was a sharp jolt in my chest and I fell to my knees. And when I looked up, I saw his form begin to crack like glass until, in a blinding flash along with a horrifying howl of unbridled pain and rage, Dan's energy burnt itself out and his core exploded like a small bomb.

Instinctively I protected Daniel and myself in a shield when the wave hit us, but no sooner had I done this when I heard something metal clatter to the ground. Cracking an eye open...I suddenly saw an unfamiliar ghost appear out of a somewhat familiar portal that formed from a giant clock hand who bent down, picked up the strange gear-shaped medallion I heard earlier that was left in Dan's wake, and then he turned and smiled at the two of us as he said, "Well done."

In the time it took me to blink in surprise though, he was gone...

And that's when I knew it was finally over. I saved Daniel. I stopped that monster and my little badger was safe again. That's why before I knew it I was cradling Daniel in my arms, and for the first time in my life, I let the tears fall freely because the long nightmare was finally over...for both of us.


	75. Catharsis

**Disclaimer:** I don't own anything from Danny Phantom, I'm a big fan and was feeling nostalgic.

 **Note (1/15/2020):** I forgot to mention this in the last note but I still plan to go back and touch up a few chapters eventually because when I went back to read them even I had a hard time with some sections being so drawn out. I definitely went overboard with some of the dialogue. That's why I tried to focus more on the action with the final chapters. In fact, since I worked on the finale so long I decided to skip rereading the rest of the chapters for now since I'll have to do that when I tidy things up. Anyways, now it's time to start wrapping things up and to tie up the loose ends so thank you so much for being a part of this journey with me and I hope you'll keep an eye out for the eventual sequel! Also apologies again for this being so dialogue-heavy but at least I'm trying to space it out a bit better.

* * *

Chapter 74: Catharsis

* * *

Danny's POV

The concept of time lost all meaning to me after I felt that last wave of excruciating pain in my chest as the fragment of Dan within me _'died'_ and slipped into oblivion. But somehow, I knew I wasn't dead too. Because how could I be dead if I could still feel things like the dull throbbing in my head and the rhythmic ache in my ribs every time I breathed...? After all, pain is proof that you're alive, isn't it?

The last thing I remember from when I last came to and was aware of my surroundings someone was carrying me in their arms, probably Vlad, and there were voices all around me. They sounded angry, scared, confused, but they sounded so far away that it was impossible for me to make out their exact words. Besides, everything, including my eyes, felt so heavy that it wasn't long before I lost touch with reality and was swallowed by the small mercy of a dreamless sleep...

It could have been days, weeks, or only hours before I opened my eyes, but when I did I thought I was still dreaming. This was...my bedroom. Not the bedroom I had in Vlad's castle, but the one I left behind four months ago covered in blood from the gunshot wound that seriously injured my human half too. When I became a little more oriented I stiffened at the sight of it when it brought back all the painful memories of that night, but then I felt something warm holding my hand and looked down. It was Vlad's hand holding mine and he was fast asleep with his head resting on that arm almost like he was afraid of letting go but was overcome by exhaustion.

He was wearing a long-sleeved dark teal shirt with a pair of equally dark blue jeans and I could see the bandages peeking out around his neck. I was wearing a pair of old pajamas that were a little too short for me now but they probably didn't have anything else for me to change into. Either way, from what I could tell I was in worse shape than Vlad was and that's when I suddenly remembered Valerie and her dad were hurt too and tried to sit up. I...I had to make sure everyone was alright. Because after this I wasn't sure if I would be able to ever see them again.

The movement must've jostled Vlad awake because he blinked a few times before sitting up and looking at me with a relieved smile as he pulled me into a gentle hug and said a bit hoarsely, "Good morning, little badger."

"Vlad...why are we-? What...what happened?" I leaned heavily on his shoulder because I still felt so heavy and lethargic, but I needed to know so I continued, "Are they safe...? Is...everyone safe?"

"I know you have a lot of questions, but you need to rest. You have a fever and while they've mostly healed you still have some bruised ribs and a few other injuries," Vlad explained before pulling away and pushing me back into bed.

Once I was laying down again, he sighed, "I can tell you this much, after I...after Dan was dealt with I immediately brought you to where I teleported the others via a few duplicates so they would be safe. I brought them to the lake we visited once before on the outskirts of town since I assumed he would be unlikely to search for them there. Needless to say, none of them were very happy to see me, but at least they accepted the fact that they would be dead if not for us."

"And while they were still in shock about all the revelations concerning our hybrid status your parents suggested that we return to Fenton Works so for the time being it's safe for us here and they won't do anything," Vlad continued with a hint of bitterness in his voice, "And even though I was injured in battle as well I wouldn't let them near you when they tried to treat you. We've been waiting for you to wake up so I can tell them the whole story. About how I found you, saved your life after they shot you, among other things. No amount of overshadowing will make them forget the truth about the two of us being half-ghost, not without damaging their minds. But since they let me stay here to take care of you and didn't want to lose you again that's something to be thankful for at least..."

"Then my parents...they-" I began when there was a knock on the door.

Again after everything we've been through I was still on high alert so my body tensed up automatically, and it hurt so I hissed in pain just when it opened and Jazz elbowed her way into the room and whispered, "Hey Vlad? You awake? Here, I brought you some food because you really should eat something. Like I said you're no good to Danny if you collapse aga-"

Whatever else she was going to say got caught in her throat when the plate slipped out of her hands as Jazz stared at us in shock and Vlad just barely caught it in time after teleporting over to her. He sighed in relief though there was sweat beading his brow as he set the plate down on the nearest flat surface and steadied her, smiling despite the obvious pain he was in, "Well now that was a close one wasn't it?"

"Vlad...he's...my brother is finally-!" Jazz began tearfully, taking a step towards me before Vlad stopped her and shook his head, putting a finger to his lips and shushing her.

"I know you're happy to see him but he only just regained consciousness so don't get too excitable. It may overwhelm him and I don't think he's quite ready to see your parents yet so we don't want to wake them. And Miss Grey and her father are still resting in the guest room next door. But thank you for your thoughtfulness, my dear," patting her head gently and giving my sister a brief one-armed hug, Vlad picked up the plate of food and offered, "It's almost your turn to watch over him anyway so I'll leave you two alone and eat this downstairs. If you need anything at all though, call for me immediately and remember to keep your voices down."

Nodding and wiping away her tears Jazz replied, "Alright. Thank you, Vlad. For everything. And promise me you'll get some rest soon too ok? You really scared me when you passed out the other night. I don't care if you are half-ghost it's not good to stay awake for three days straight."

"Three days...we've been here that long?" I asked hesitantly.

"Yeah, and a lot has happened since then," Jazz explained as she took Vlad's place in the chair next to my bed and held my hand gently too, "I'll tell you everything I know but after that, you need to get some more sleep, Danny. You're in much worse condition than you were when Vlad saved you before so it may take a little longer for you to heal this time. We were worried you might slip into a full-on coma for a minute there when Vlad first brought you back home, to Fenton Works-"

After Vlad left once he knew my sister was watching over me, Jazz told me all about the lockdown at school. She told me all about how a bunch of people ended up taking shelter there when the other scattered ghost shields in town were damaged thanks to Dan's rampage. No one was allowed to leave, but Val must've gotten out somehow during the confusion. That makes sense given how Dan used me to lure her out in the first place. I just couldn't remember most of our encounter.

And when it was all over Sam and Tucker wanted to come see me, but their parents wouldn't let them since it was too dangerous to wander the streets because of all the damage. The last time the town looked this bad was after Pariah Dark tried to take over Amity. So now the city had its own cleanup crew. But they really had their work cut out for them this time...

No one knew what happened exactly, but it turns out that some random bystanders fleeing the scene did manage to catch a glimpse of the two of us on camera when we tag-teamed Dan. That's why a lot of people were saying that Danny Phantom was back and I defeated the impostor who tried to destroy Amity Park and that they suspected he was the real mastermind behind Danny Fenton's kidnapping. But I didn't care about any of that. I was just relieved that mom and dad, my friends, Val, and her dad were safe. Everyone was safe now and I...it was over, right? Dan was finally gone, for good this time.

As if reading my mind Jazz smiled and squeezed my hand gently, nodded, and said, "Everything is going to be alright now Danny. We're going to tell mom and dad everything from start to finish together since I was there the last time Dan appeared. And I don't know how he did it but Vlad really came through for us. He's a hero. And so are you. There's no way anyone can deny that."

"I don't...feel like one," I admitted tiredly, my eyes drooping, "None of this would have happened if I just told him sooner Jazz. I should have trusted Vlad with everything just like Clockwork told me...to..."

* * *

A few hours later I jerked awake when I suddenly heard yelling outside my door and this time I was by myself since no one was watching me so I wondered what was going on until my mom's voice answered that question for me. "...I don't care who or what you are you can't keep me away from my baby boy!"

Snarling angrily Vlad snapped, "Oh yes I can because he's the same son that your idiot husband nearly KILLED MADDIE! And you LET Jack do it! The only reason Daniel is still alive is because I was fortunate enough to find him before he bled to death from that gun wound you two gave him! I kept him away from here for a reason, Maddie. You have no idea what your actions did to him much less how much Daniel as suffered on your behalf! He left his home because he had to, and it's not just because you both seriously injured him, it's because Daniel wanted to protect you from that evil version of himself! And despite EVERYTHING you did to him, after he put up with all the neglect, heartache, and disappointment from you and Jack Daniel NEVER ONCE stopped loving you. All Daniel wanted to keep all of you and this stupid town safe. He put himself in harm's way so many times, all for your sake. But now it's my turn to keep HIM safe, even from you if need be."

There was a long tense pause before Vlad continued coldly, "I never got the chance to finish saying it over the phone but I'll say it again now, you don't deserve him. And if you two really do love and accept Daniel for who he is like you say you do, then you will do what is best for HIM and not yourselves. Just because you want Daniel to come home doesn't mean he's inclined to feel the same. Daniel has every right to decide where his home is now for himself! And at least he HAS a home and a family to come back to! That's why I refuse to let you force your feelings onto him. Daniel has been through enough as it is."

"You don't get to decide that for him either, Vlad," my mom growled in return, "All this time you've been lying to us about Danny and about yourself! We could have helped you if you just told us the truth!"

"Don't try to place the blame on me, you can't possibly fathom why I'd hold such a secret from you. No one wants to be hunted for what they can't control being. You two made me what I am after all. By the time I left the hospital, you both were eager ghost hunters. It was your sole profession, so the time where I could have safely told you what I was even if I wanted to came and went. Your own son grew up witnessing the creation of each and every one your inventions to hunt, dissect, and capture them and to hearing how unsympathetic you were towards their very existence. When he became like me, a halfa, a very real fear of you two likely took root soon after because of that. I needed my friends, just like he needed his parents, but knowing what we both know about you two made total honesty impossible."

"Jack didn't mean to hurt you Vlad, and he didn't mean to hurt Danny either! It was a mistake!" she suddenly sobbed, though my mom still sounded angry at herself too as she snapped, "Do you have any idea how it feels knowing that I've been endangering and attacking my own son this whole time...? Threatening him with annihilation and experimentation? Every anti-ghost invention we showed him, every hateful comment we made about ghosts...we must have made him feel so frightened of sharing the truth with us even when his life depended on it. You're right about that which makes it even worse! Yet Danny he...he endured all of that pain and uncertainty in silence and he was willing to die for us! But we're the ones who are supposed to keep him safe, Vlad! We're his parents! I love him so much that knowing I've hurt my baby is killing me inside. That's why I just want to hug him and kiss him and let Danny know it's ok...I understand why he didn't tell us. We never gave him any reason to believe that we'd still love him no matter what. Especially after we chased him away without realizing it!"

Sounding cold and indifferent Vlad sighed and finished reluctantly, "Daniel already knows how much you love him, that's why it hurt him so much to stay away. Even for his own safety. But it would have hurt him worse to lose you. He told me once that Dan was a version of Daniel who lost everyone he loved, and he blamed himself for it. It destroyed him inside until eventually, he couldn't bear it anymore. Maddie, that alone should prove to you that your son, even as Danny Phantom, always strove to do the right thing and he isn't just a ghost. Or rather half-ghost. Even ghosts have feelings, and his have been hurt beyond imagining so please...I'm asking you do the right thing when this is all over. Because if you won't, I will even if he hates me for it because that is what parents do. We may not share the same blood, but we share more in common than you can possibly imagine because of who and what we are. You'll have your chance to see him again but for now, we've carried on long enough. I need to go make sure his condition is stable before waking him up if he isn't awake already from all our yelling. Just be thankful Jack isn't here since I still have some things to say to him too. Things I've waited twenty years to say to that so-called friend of mine."

Not wanting to make the situation worse I quickly laid back down and pretended to be fast asleep, wondering what all that was about, but at the same time I felt awful that I made my mom cry so much. But at least...at least I knew she didn't hate me because of what I am. That was something at least...

Now if only I could be so sure about my dad and Valerie.

* * *

As hard as it was listening to my mom cry earlier, it was painful to see my again dad for the first time since this all started since he's the one who pulled the trigger. He looked really scared when he saw me looking all pale and feverish, then again maybe he was just feeling nervous because Vlad was glaring daggers at him from the moment he stepped into the living room. Vlad has done nothing but glare at my parents ever since he helped me downstairs so we could talk about what happened. And Jazz was being protective of me too and stayed close to me the whole time on the other side of the sofa. Either way, I could tell my dad was sorry for what he'd done to me, and after letting it sink in that he didn't hate me either for being half-ghost after all I was about to tell him it was ok when-

"You are not to take another step closer to him do you hear me? Stay right there and say your piece so we can get this over with," Vlad ordered coldly, making my dad wince and step back again and slump into the nearest armchair next to my mom.

"Vladdy this is my son, I just -I didn't mean to- it's all my fault!" my dad began shakily, dragging his other hand down his face and groaning, "I'm a terrible father for not seeing it sooner! I can't believe that four months ago I almost killed Danny. But he was so brave out there and still willing to sacrifice himself to protect us from that monster! You were right, Vlad, those things I almost said when we thought we lost him to some punk ghost were stupid and cruel. I never should have given up on him so easily. Danny never gave up on us even when we -when I- did something so horrible to him. I'm just so happy to have my son home again, to know that he's alive! Or is it half alive? Ah, who cares! Either way, you kept your promise and saved my son's life again, Vlad. I can't thank you enough for that even though it can never make up for what I almost did to him," he began but I could tell there was more he wanted to say, just not in front of me and Jazz.

"I didn't do any of this for you you fool, I did it for Daniel," Vlad snapped grumpily glancing at my mom too before rounding on my dad again, "I hate you for a lot of reasons Jack, but what you did to Daniel was FAR worse than infecting me with ghost DNA back in college and leaving me to rot! But, I did what I had to for his sake. I even used that abominable weapon you two shot him with that sent Daniel running to me in the first place. I felt so dirty holding such a vile weapon in my hands that you happily tested on the first ghost you saw who has done nothing but protect everyone from the real threats this town faces because of you and that stupid portal! Threats that you have thus far blatantly ignored until they came knocking at your door when he wasn't here to clean up YOUR MESSES!"

Pinching the bridge of his nose Vlad suddenly looked very old and tired and shook his head, resting a hand on my shoulder as if to calm himself before he continued, "No, no this isn't helping and I already lost my composure with Maddie earlier. The important thing is that I think it's time we told you everything from our point of view and not Dan's because by now you realize that most of it is true. Daniel and I are indeed both half-ghost, and it all happened because of YOUR Ghost Portal and overall stupidity. These are facts. But in regards to how Daniel feels about you and about what he is is for him to share. As for me, well, there are things we need to discuss privately now that the Dan situation has been resolved. Daniel? Is there anything you wish to say to them?"

"I..." glancing behind them at Valerie when I noticed her walking down the stairs in some clothes she borrowed from Jazz, I watched her sit down on the steps without looking at me to listen to what I had to say and the pressure was intense...

It all seemed too fresh to me, the memories I mean of getting shot by my dad, having my rare cold-core almost kill me too, living with Vlad, destroying Skulker -well, almost anyway, according to Vlad he managed to get away after ejecting himself from his helmet which was a relief- then being controlled by Dan and forced to attack Valerie and Vlad. I was still having a hard time processing it and believing that we've finally come full circle again. My parents were here with me, and I've been sleeping in my own bed again, but if I'm being honest it didn't feel like home anymore. All I could remember was the fear I felt when I ran away and the anger in their eyes when they pointed their weapons at me with every intention of reducing me to ectoplasm. And sometimes when they looked up at me I'd involuntarily flinch because of those feelings; even when Vlad let them come close enough to give me a hug their movements felt hesitant like they were afraid of me. I think they were actually afraid FOR me, but it didn't change how strange this all was.

And now, for the second time in my life, they've learned the truth about me in the worst possible way.

They saw what I could become, an evil ghost just because I couldn't handle it when I lost almost everyone I cared about in an explosion at the Nasty Burger. I nearly lost them again this time too and the thought was unbearable. I didn't know how to feel or what to say except, "I'm sorry...for everything. There were so many times I wanted to tell you what really happened to me the day of my accident, but I was scared and then...ghosts started appearing everywhere and I thought I could help. And I did help, in secret because I thought it was easier for everyone that way. But as time went on it got harder and harder to keep up with everything, my chores, hunting ghosts, school, making time to see my friends, there was just so much pressure. I couldn't sleep, I was barely eating, and it was like even when I made it home in time for curfew I was always in trouble with you guys so I started to wonder why I even bothered hunting ghosts at all when that's supposed to be your job. I just had the advantage or disadvantage I guess of being able to sense them when they're nearby. It all happened a year ago when I had my accident. Sam, Tucker, and I were messing with the ghost portal and I turned it on by accident and then it happened-"

I shuttered at the memory, "I never told them how painful it really was, how much it changed me even though my friends knew at least part of it because they saw how I looked when I climbed out of it. My hair turned white and my eyes turned green and I suddenly had all these powers I didn't understand. Once I got used to them though I decided to use my powers to help people. That's why almost every day and every night I was sneaking out of the house or school, hunting ghosts. It was ok for a while, but then one night...one of my worst fears came true and I became the latest ghost who was being hunted by my own parents just when I had started hitting my limit after fighting more ghosts than usual that day. But when I saw that my human half was bleeding too, I knew there was no going back, and I had nowhere else to go. At least, I thought that was the case until Vlad saved me. Before then I thought we were enemies because at the reunion he tried to make dad look bad so he could win over mom but when Vlad found out I was a half-ghost like him, he told me what really happened to him back in college. I...even saw it happen in person once when I went back in time but that's another story. But dad, the truth is that day I saw you pour diet soda into the ecto-energy filter instead of ecto-purifier and that's how Vlad ended up with ecto-acne. He suffered through the slow changes of becoming the first half-ghost in existence whereas for me it all happened at once in a single terrifying moment when I wasn't sure if I would make it out of that portal alive. Guess I only made it halfway..."

"Hold on, is THAT how you knew how to cure him of his ecto-acne again and your friends when they had it a few months ago?" my mom asked and I nodded, wincing when I saw her eyes widen in horror as she exchanged looks with my dad before turning to Vlad, "We just thought you were too angry at us to let us come visit so eventually we gave up and moved on with our lives. But Vlad we never meant to abandon you to such a cruel fate. We were friends."

"Friends...bah!" Vlad scoffed, "At times I deeply regretted ever letting you two into my life because it cost me everything! And I don't just mean my chances with you, Maddie. I told Daniel this before, but did either of you know that both my parents have long since passed? My father died of an incurable disease and my mother died from grief shortly before we met. The only reason I was able to attend college that time was because of the life savings she left me in her will. But after the accident I was trapped in a hospital bed for years, all while trying to keep my ghost powers in check and also trying to explain to these blithering idiots that ecto-energy wasn't just any radiation, it comes from another plane of existence entirely and thus their treatments often made things worse. And I had to bear every excruciating second of it."

Closing his eyes and adopting a sadder tone, Vlad said, "Even if you were ashamed to face me, even if I was angry with you and turned you away, truth be told there were many MANY times I wished you both would have at the very least TRIED to reach out to me during those hard times because unlike you...I had no one to look after or comfort me. No relatives, no other friends, I was all alone. That is until I met Daniel and realized that whether by our accidents or not he and I were bound together because of what you two did to us. I thought if nothing else, I could spare him from the same fear and loneliness I felt and help him learn more about what he'd become since I was the first of our kind. Admittedly I made a few mistakes with him it's true, but unlike you two I at least have the courage to admit to them."

"And Daniel, when he first came to me he was in a very dark place. He was in shock and had nearly died from that gunshot wound you gave him in addition to being struck by lightning when he fled Fenton Works. Even so, when Daniel recovered his strength he missed you so much. Poor Daniel was deathly afraid that you'd reject him which allowed this evil ghost from an alternate future, Dan, to use that as fuel to torment his mind the whole time, and it took a serious toll on him. He tried so hard to stay strong for as long as he could for your sake once he realized what was happening. And by some miracle, despite everything I've done to him, how I've manipulated those around him to get what I wanted, he still gave even someone like me a second chance. At one point Daniel even tried to kill himself to protect all of you from his evil future self when he thought it was the only way until he finally realized something very important for himself. That he wanted to LIVE. Not for you, not for me, but for himself..."

Opening his eyes and standing up without letting go of my shoulder, Vlad proclaimed, "He's given his blood, sweat, tears, and given up his dreams for each and every one of you in this town and in this house and not once received a word of thanks. And I gave Daniel what he needed most when this all began, a safe haven, someone who wouldn't judge him, a confidant, and my help defeating Dan when he couldn't fight alone against his worst enemy. I helped him shoulder his burdens. It was difficult, but I did what needed to be done. And now I ask you, Jack, Maddie, as his parents what will you do now that you know the truth?"

Looking down at me Vlad continued somberly, "Now that you know how much your son Daniel has sacrificed for you when no child should have to fear being attacked by both his parents and the ghosts infesting this town and has had to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders quite literally, what will you do...? How can you possibly make up for putting him in that position where Daniel felt safer in the care of a former enemy rather than his own family? With the exception of Jasmine of course who even went so far as to lie to you as well to keep her brother safe. Well...?"

"I don't know," mom admitted quietly, looking at me with a heartbroken expression, "All I do know is we're so sorry sweetheart. You didn't do anything wrong, and we..."

"We love you Danny, nothing will change that," my dad finished for her, holding mom's hand as she fought off tears again when he wasn't exactly doing much better. "I'm sorry for shooting you son, I didn't know but that's no excuse. Can you ever forgive me? Can you ever forgive us?"

Swaying dizzily since I was overwhelmed by all these thoughts and feelings swirling in my head, I leaned heavily on Jazz's shoulder as she silently supported me and closed my eyes. It took me a minute to recover and find the right words but all I could say was, "I'm just glad...you don't hate me. I was so afraid of that every time I thought of telling you my secret. Knowing that you still love me...is enough. And I love you too."

"Danny, I think we should get you back up to bed. You look pale and your fever still hasn't gone down," Jazz offered but I shook my head slowly and looked up at Vlad who seemed to be thinking the same thing I was.

"Guys, can I have a minute alone with Vlad? I don't think I can handle much more serious talk right now," I asked. "I promise I'll get some sleep after we've talked.

Exchanging looks again as if to ask for Vlad's permission before they walked over, my parents hugged me gently and mom kissed my forehead, which became damp when some of her tears spilled over and she said shakily, "Alright sweetie, we'll be upstairs if you need anything."

"Thanks," I smiled weakly, letting Vlad help me to my feet before Jazz hugged me too and followed after mom and dad to console them a bit since it looked like they seriously needed it after we unloaded all of that on them...

Still, maybe I was just feeling lightheaded from the surge of relief that swept over me after I finally told them how I really felt and about how things turned out this way. I even forgot Valerie was still sitting on the stairs, and that she heard everything I said, suddenly looking unsure of herself as my parents walked past her after briefly asking if her dad was ok. We would have taken him to the hospital but that would have risen too many questions so while she was reluctant at first to let Vlad anywhere near her dad, he had more medical experience than both my parents. But despite still having his own injuries to deal with Vlad was able to diagnose his condition and treat the few injuries Mr. Grey had with ease. Vlad even helped my mom with her concussion too. He let mom take care of Val's injuries herself though with a few instructions because she wouldn't let him touch her and she even threatened to shoot him if he came too close.

Obviously, Valerie was livid knowing that Vlad's been pulling her strings all along and she felt more betrayed after learning his secret than mine. I still didn't know how she felt about all this since she hasn't left her dad's side or said a word to me, but I had a feeling we would end up talking soon since I wasn't sure where we were going to go from here.

Wandering over to the nearest window under the careful watch of Vlad to get some fresh air, I leaned over the windowsill and asked him quietly, "Vlad, is it really over?"

Putting his hand on my shoulder again, Vlad nodded and smiled softly, "Yes little badger, it is. It's finally over..."

And just like that, the dam broke and suddenly I couldn't hold back my tears anymore, so I hunched over the windowsill and sobbed with all my might, not caring who was watching anymore. I couldn't form any words to thank him with or express how much this meant to me. At this point, I didn't even care how Vlad got rid of Dan or why he kept my parents gun. I'm just glad that he did and used it to put an end to all this. Finally, that huge weight on my shoulders, the fear I once had of becoming Dan, it was all gone now and I could breathe again! My parents didn't reject me, they didn't hate me, my friends and family were all still alive and Amity Park was saved! We did it, working together with Vlad we defeated Dan once and for all and now I could safely say I still had a future. I had a say in what happened to me from this moment on.

I just had to decide where the road would lead me from there, and what the future would bring.


End file.
